The York University Lions men's hockey team fell to the Windsor Lancers in their final regular season home game of the 2015-16 season on Friday night (Feb.12) by a score of 4-3 in overtime at Canlan Ice Sports Arena.

The Lancers came out of the gates aggressive on Friday night, and applied immense pressure within the Lions blue line for the majority of the game. The Lancer attack was led by Dylan Denomme who finished the evening with three points, two which were goals coming in the first period. The first tally came on the power play just over six minutes into the frame as Denomme received a pass from Anthony in the slot to beat Chris Perugini (King City, Ont.) blocker side to give the Lancers the early lead.

Throughout the first period it was apparent that the Lancers would play the Lions aggressive and hit anything that moved, and the scheme seemed to pay off, as the Lancers added another goal at the 14:35 mark of the period. An unassisted Denomme goal beat Perugini to extend their first period advantage to two goals headiing into the first intermission.

In the second period the Lions were hungry to get back into this hockey game and it didn't take them long to respond. Just 45 seconds into the period Trevor Peterson (Thornhill, Ont.) received a gift in front of the Lancer net and patiently waited out Michael Doan to put the Lions within one goal. The mad scramble was a result of multiple Lions near the Lancer crease, which included Kyle Campbell (Halifax, N.S.) and Mark Cross (Strasbourg, Sask.) before the bouncing puck found its way onto Peterson's stick. 

Eight minutes after the Lions cut the lead in half they were once again on the attack, and after an undisciplined Lancer penalty the Lions moved the puck around until Tyler McGee (Timmins, Ont.) found  Campbell who rifled a pass to Doan to tie the game up at 2-2.

After the Lions began to create momentum they were halted on a delayed penalty that saw the extra attacker jump over the boards and join the rush leading to a quick shot, which was initially saved by Perugini but the rebound found the stick of a charging Kyle Hope, who deposited it in the back of the net to give the lead back to the Lancers late in the second period.

Similar to the start of the second period the third period began with a bang, as the Lions were flying all over the ice and resulted in an odd man rush with McGee, Mitch VanTeeling (Brandon, Man.), and Justin Larson (Buckhorn, Ont.). As the three came through the neutral zone they executed a perfect tic-tac-toe play which Larson finished off to tie the game up once again. Both sides had multiple chances in the third period but couldn't manage to find the back of the net, sending the game into overtime.

In the extra frame the Lancers were desperate to take down the first place Lions, and they eventually did at the 2:19 mark. A gang of Lancers crashed the Lion crease and a bouncing puck escaped the crowd and came to the side of the night, where Justice Dundas capitalized on the mayhem corralling it and flipping it over a sprawling Perugini to give the Lancers the win.

After Friday's defeat, the Lions remain in first place in the OUA standings with a record of 16-6-5, now one point up on the second place Western Mustangs. In the final game for the Lancers they end their season with a 14-11-3 record. The Lions are back on the ice tomorrow (Feb. 13) when they travel downtown to take on the 10-14-2 Toronto Varsity Blues. The puck drops at 7:30pm.