ST. CATHARINES, Ont. – The UOIT men's hockey team picked up their second straight road victory after beating the Brock Badgers 4-1 in St. Catharines Friday night.
UOIT (14-8-1) sits fifth in the OUA eastern conference standings but is only three points behind Queen's (15-4-2) and Concordia (15-5-2) for second. Carleton (15-7-1) is sandwiched between the teams for the final home-ice advantage position.
Brendan O'Neill (Ilderton, Ont.) made his third straight start and stopped 30 of 31 Badger shots for his eighth victory of the year. The third-year netminder has a career low 2.52 goal against average in 13 games played.
Ryan Doucette (Waterloo, Ont.) opened up scoring just over ten minutes into the first period, recording his ninth goal of the season.
Mike Robinson (Stouffville, Ont.) and
Danny Elser (Hopewell Junction, N.Y.) picked up assists.
The game remained 1-0 until late in the second period when
Malik Johnson (Montreal, Que.) scored to double-up the Ridgebacks lead with assists coming from
Cameron Yuill (Wellington, Ont.) and
Connor Jarvis (Port Union, Ont.).
Brock would break up O'Neill's shutout bid four minutes into the third period when freshman Brody Silk notched his ninth of the season. UOIT freshman
Jack Patterson (Bedford, N.S.) was not to be outdone as he put an end to Brock's comeback attempt scoring with five minutes left in regulation, with
Nate Mitton (Kitchener, Ont.) and
Loren Ulett (Port Perry, Ont.) getting helpers.
Yuill would add an unassisted empty net goal to finish off the game.
Both power play units were ineffective as UOIT went 0-for-5 while Brock was 0-for-2. Brock outshot UOIT 31-25.
UOIT will look to extend their win-streak to three on Saturday afternoon when they head across the 407 to take on the York Lions. York is in second place in the western conference with a 14-6-2 record and are coming off a 5-4 shootout win over Queen's Friday night.
QUICK LOOK AT THE RIDGEBACKS
Overall Record: 17-10-3
Conference Record: 14-8-1
Next game: Saturday, Jan. 21 @ York Lions (7 PM – North York, Ont.)
