Emilie Miranda | Executive Editor, Online
Featured image: The Lions took 39 minutes of penalties over two games this weekend. | Courtesy of Placide Ilunga
Lions hockey stumbled out of the gate in 2018, dropping games against the Brock Badgers and U of T Varsity Blues this weekend.
The men’s Friday-night matchup against the Badgers was a lively affair that saw 58 minutes of penalties and two players ejected.
With Mack Shields in net, the Lions put the pressure on early and were rewarded with a power play in the first few minutes of the game. However, they were unable to generate any high-quality chances, and less than a minute after the penalty expired, Brandon O’Quinn put Brock ahead by one.
Though Brock continued to pressure, Shields was solid and denied all chances to extend their lead. Just over a minute later, Colton Vannucci tied the game for the Lions on a two-on-none breakaway assisted by Shayne Rover. With five minutes left in the period, Scott Feser stepped into the slot and wristed the puck past Badger goalie Clint Windsor to give the Lions the lead.
The intensity only ramped up in the second period after Badger Mack Lemmon ran over Shields, dislodging his helmet for the second time in the game, and Lions Nick Zottl and Josh LaFrance were handed penalties in the ensuing scuffle. Both Lemmon and Zottl were given game misconducts and ejected, with York being assessed an extra penalty to put them on the penalty kill.
Shields stood on his head for the rest of the period, making a Dominic Hasek-esque diving save and deflecting a shot with his mask to keep the Badgers from tying it up.
The third period saw back-and-forth play that generated chances at both ends of the ice, but ultimately lead to the Badgers tying the game at two. After York took a penalty with seven minutes to go in the period, Brock seized their chance and took the lead, then added an empty-net goal for a final score of 4-2. York was unable to capitalize on five power play opportunities over the course of the game.
Saturday night saw the women’s team also fall to the Badgers. The first few minutes of fast-paced back-and-forth play resulted in a power play for the Lions, who were unfortunately unable to capitalize on good stickwork in the offensive zone.
A successful penalty kill bolstered the Badgers’ strong play, which culminated in a goal when forward Christina Ieradi picked up a rebound in the crease. Brock added to their lead 10 minutes later on a power play goal that went up and over York goalie Lauren Dubie to make the score 2-0.
York came into the second determined to even things up, with a pair of odd-man rushes thwarted by the crossbar and a sliding defender. After much of the first half of the period was spent in the Badgers zone, Taylor Murphy was finally able to put one past goalie Jensen Murphy to cut the Badger lead in half.
Christina Chin tied the game two minutes into the third on a screened shot from the point, giving York new life. There was some excitement behind the Lions net, as well as in front of it, when Dubie slipped and only a sliding play from a York defender kept the puck out of the empty net.
After an hour of play and an overtime period filled with big saves at both ends of the ice failed to break the stalemate, the teams headed to a shootout. Badger Kat Whiteye scored the only goal, going five-hole on Dubie to give the Badgers the 3-2 win.
The men headed downtown for a Sunday afternoon matchup against the U of T Varsity Blues, falling to their divisional rivals, despite Toronto ranking last in the OUA West. The game was filled with end-to-end action, with no penalties given out until the Blues’ Casey Knight was called for tripping 15 minutes into the first.
U of T was aggressive on the penalty kill, picking off York passes and sending the puck down the ice. The best chance on the power play belonged to the Blues, when Shields was forced to make a big stop on a two-on-one at the end of the penalty. Blues goalie Frederic Foulem answered back with a save of his own on Kyle Campbell in the last five seconds to keep the game scoreless after one.
A scuffle at the end of the first period put U of T on the power play to start the second, which quickly became four-on-four hockey when Morgan Messenger was tripped on a run down the wing in the offensive zone. However, it was U of T who drew first blood in the game, with York unable to convert their chances into goals.
Immediately after a hooking call put York on the man-advantage once again, the Blues scored their second goal of the game, when Matt Campagna wristed a shot under the arm of Shields. Four minutes later, York was finally able to get on the board with a tap-in goal by Giusten Annetta at the end of yet another power play that was largely stifled by U of T shot-blocking.
This opened the floodgates for more scoring, with U of T going up 3-1 on a rebound in the crease and York’s Trevor Petersen answering with a goal from a seemingly impossible angle on the short side.
The Lions began the third period on the penalty kill once again, after Reid Jackman slashed a Blues player at the end of the second period. Though U of T failed to score on the power play, a side-to-side play after the penalty expired put the Blues up 4-2.
Less than a minute later, Jackman was given both a minor penalty and a 10-minute misconduct after spilling a U of T player in the corner. The Lions were aggressive on the penalty kill and managed to escape without allowing another goal. They were able to cut U of T’s lead to one goal, when LaFrance capitalized on a favourable bounce in the Blues zone.
The Lions put the pressure on in the last few minutes of the game, but gave up another empty net goal in the last minute of play to fall 5-3.
Both teams will look for their first wins of 2018 later this week when the men take on the Lakehead Thunderwolves on Friday at home and the women face off against the Guelph Gryphons in Guelph on Thursday. The women’s game begins at 7:30 p.m., while the men begin at 7 p.m.
