OSHAWA, Ont. – The UOIT men's hockey team won 3-2 on Saturday to sweep the UQTR Patriotes in back-to-back games, capping off the first semester with their eighth straight win.
 
The victory continues the Ridgebacks longest win streak in program history, which was previously set at five games to start their 2016-2017 season. It was also a major weekend as UOIT was 1-14 against UQTR all-time heading into Friday, with their first conference victory against the Patriotes coming in their final conference game of 2017.
 
"To finish with eight straight wins is great - at one point we were sitting at 2-5-1 - we have to give our hockey club full credit, the guys have really bought in to what we are doing here and it shows," said head coach Curtis Hodgins.
 
The Ridgebacks opened the scoring midway through the first period when Alex Yuill (Wellington, Ont.) scored on a power play. Nearing the end of the period UQTR answered with a goal of their own as Deven St-Hilaire fired the puck on net and it just snuck by goaltender, Brendan O'Neill (Ilderton, Ont.).
 
Heating up in the second, the Ridgebacks came out looking determined scoring twice, both coming off the stick of Malik Johnson (Montreal, Que.). The first one came from a wrist shot that made its way through both defencemen and Alexandre Belanger. Johnson's second goal was a bit harder to come by as he had to shake a defender off of him and drag the puck around Belanger in the crease to put the puck in the back of the net.
 
UOIT went into the third period with a two-goal lead and all things looked promising until just under 14 minutes had passed and UQTR scored. The goal came off of a Patriotes power play when Jason Lavallee blasted a slapshot from the point and into the back of the net. Despite UQTR pulling their goalie with 1:32 to go, the Ridgebacks were able to hold onto their lead until the end of the game.
 
A 33-save performance by O'Neill gave him his fourth win of the season helped the team to their eighth straight and 10^th of the season.
 
"His performance was outstanding, he made great saves all game long even when we had the two- goal lead. I can't say enough about him and the way Teich played for us Friday night," said Hodgins.
 
Along with great goaltending performances the Ridgebacks have been doing an impressive job producing. In Saturday's game Ben Blasko (Kingston, Ont.) picked up two assists, increasing his point streak to seven games. Mike Robinson also picked up two assists as well now reaching a 10-game point streak.
 
The Ridgebacks are now in the holiday break and won't play again until January 5 when they face the Queen's Gaels on January 5 and 6 in Kingston.
 
QUICK LOOK AT THE RIDGEBACKS
Overall Record: 12-8-1
Conference Record: 10-5-1

Next game: Friday, Jan. 5 vs. Queen's Gaels (7:30 PM – Kingston, Ont.)