On Saturday (Dec. 5), the York University Lions men's hockey team capped off its fall season with a thrilling 3-2 double overtime victory over the Lakehead Thunderwolves at Canlan Ice Sports Arena.
 
With the win the Lions now hold a 10-4-3 record on the year and sit in first place in the OUA West standings with 23 points.
 
Reid Jackman (Etobicoke, Ont.) was the hero of the night, scoring with one second left on the clock in double overtime. After Derek Sheppard (Ajax, Ont.) and Greg Milner (Watford, Ont.) were able to string a few passes together, Jackman met the puck in the crease to smash home the winning goal in the last second of play.
 
In the first period the Thunderwolves started on the front foot with great possession hockey. Cody Alcock nearly opened the scoring with a slap shot that rang the post midway through the first period, but it was Brennan Dubchack who finished off of a scramble in the crease set up by Carson Dubchack and E.J. Faust, that made it 1-0 in Lakehead's favour.
 
It was an exciting second period as the Lions were quick to recover and gain the lead with two goals scored just in a minute's span.
 
Once, the puck was released from Tyler Mort (Keswick), and Milner and Trevor Petersen (Thornhill, Ont.) caught the Thunderwolves with an odd-man rush and teamed up to grab the Lions an equalizer at 1:24. Petersen was credited the goal, while Mort and Milner were given the assists.
 
The second goal followed shortly after at 2:26 off of quick combination play. After the puck was shared between Mitch VanTeeling (Brandon, Man.) and Justin Larson (Buckhorn, Ont.), Kyle Campbell (Halifax) was in the perfect position to easily slip the puck into the net and make it 2-1.
 
At 5:16 however, the Thunderwolves tied the score at 2-2 after Tyler Kunz posted up against Lions goaltender Chris Perugini (King City, Ont.) and deflected the puck into the corner of the net off Dylan Butler's slap shot.
 
In the third period, momentum shifted back and forth between the two teams but there were no goals to show for their efforts.
 
The 2-2 score pushed the game into overtime. Both Campbell and Thunderwolves forward Justin Sefton were denied by the post, but Jackman's goal was enough to secure the win for the Lions.
 
Both goaltenders played an exceptional game. Perugini made 25 saves in total, along with a critical reaction stop from an outstretched leg in the second period. Lakehead's Devin Green made 36 saves.
 
In the next month the Lions will be home for the holidays and won't return to the ice until Saturday, Jan. 2 for a non-conference away game against the Toronto Varsity Blues at 4pm. Regular season competition will commence on Thursday, Jan. 7 when the Lions will take on the Guelph Gryphons in Guelph, Ont., at 7:30pm.