The York University Lions men's hockey team returned to the ice at Canlan Ice Sports on Saturday night (Nov. 12) and suffered a narrow 3-2 loss to the No. 6 nationally-ranked Concordia Stingers.
 
York seemed comfortable from the very second the puck dropped as they moved the puck into Concordia's end swiftly and often to create opportunities to score. The pressing paid off early in the period as Nathan Larson (Buckhorn, Ont.) scored at 5:12. The goal was set up when Steven Janes (Etobicoke, Ont.) received a pass from Connor Hale (Whitby, Ont.) and fired it to Larson, who was just waiting in the near slot to poke the puck in.
 
Time eventually expired and the Lions entered into the second period with a 1-0 lead.
 
Entering the second period the physicality was turned up quite a few notches as the glass was shaking significantly from the big hits. The Stingers were graced with a power play near the end of the period that opened up the scoring for them. At 17:38 Scott Oke capitalized on his opportunity at the net while his teammates crowded York goaltender Alex Fotinos (Toronto) to block any possible vision towards the wrist shot.
 
Just over two minutes later the Stingers found themselves in York's end once again when Anthony Deluca fired a powerful slap shot that landed top corner. The two quick goals in the period gave Concordia a 2-1 lead heading into the third.
 
After a decisive performance in the second period by the Stingers it was clear that the momentum was on Concordia's side. Midway through the third, the Stingers would continue to pour on the pain when Deluca scored his second goal of the game.
 
The Lions continued to fight and even pulled their goalie to get an extra attacker inside the last four minutes of the game. At 17:47 the six attacking Lions loaded up into the Concordia end of the ice and let off a barrage of shots. Trevor Petersen (Thornhill, Ont.) passed the puck to Derek Sheppard (Ajax, Ont.), who let off a powerful slap shot from the deep slot. The shot could not be completely stopped by Concordia netminder Philippe Cadorette and Daniel Nikandrov (Richmond Hill, Ont.) was there to clean up the puck off the bounce with a wrist shot.
 
The goal cut the deficit to just one, but they could not get any closer and took the loss.
 
With the loss the Lions now move to 7-4-1 on the season and maintain the second overall spot in the OUA West standings. Their next game will take place on Friday (Nov. 18) against the McGill Redmen.