The York University Lions men's hockey team edged out a 2-0 win against the Laurentian Voyageurs in its home opener at Canlan Ice Sports on Friday evening (Oct. 23) to improve to 3-0-1 on the season.
 
Coming into the first period, possession slid back and forth between the two teams until the Lions opened the scoring early at 4:32. Stringing a few passes together, Mitch VanTeeling (Brandon, Man.) and Colton Vannucci (High River, Alta.) were able to find Trevor Petersen (Thornhill, Ont.) by himself at the Voyageurs' crease and he wasted no time in smashing the puck past the gloves of Laurentian goaltender Alain Valiquette.
 
The pace seemed to pick up from there as the Voyageurs almost found the found the net seconds later as the puck slipped across the skates of York goaltender Chris Perugini (King City, Ont.). Luckily, no one was on the receiving end of the pass but it kept the Lions on their toes as they powered through the rest of the first period.
 
In the second period the Lions continued their momentum and completely dominated in the Voyageurs' end. Many Lions took promising shots on net (33 in total), but had a bit of a scare at 6:32 when Perugini stopped a critical Voyageur attempt off of an odd man rush that could have tied up the game.
 
Holding the 1-0 lead going into the third period, both teams had their chances to put another goal on the scoreboard. Connor Hale (Whitby, Ont.) almost executed off of a one-on-one situation against Valiquette, but it was Petersen who pounced on a power play opportunity and closed the game with a well-placed goal off of Vannucci's assist for the insurance goal.
 
The win has boosted the team to a first-place tie in the OUA West standings with seven points in four games.
 
Coming up next for the Lions is another home game against the Nipissing Lakers. Puck drop will be at 7pm on Saturday (Oct. 24).