Colton Vannucci scored the go-ahead goal with just over seven minutes remaining to give the York University Lions men's hockey team a 3-2 victory over the Ryerson Rams in front of a raucous crowd at the Mattamy Athletic Centre in the inaugural game of the Subway Series on Friday night.
 
More than 300 Lions fans travelled downtown on the new Line 1 TTC subway extension for the game and were treated to a thriller between two of the top teams in the OUA West standings. The win boosts the Lions' season record to 13-8-1 to keep them in fourth place in the division, one point behind Ryerson and Laurier and just one point ahead of Brock.
 
The Lions scored a pair of goals before the Rams were able to add one. Josh LaFrance scored in the first with the assistance of Justin Bean and Daniel Nikandrov. Stefano Pezzetta scored just three minutes into the second and was assisted by Ben Verrall and Derek Sheppard.
 
The Rams added their first goal of the game in the second period. Alex Basso scored single-handedly on a power play.
 
Basso added another power play goal in the third period, this time assisted by Gregory DiTomaso and Steven Harland, to tie the score 2-2.
 
However, Vannucci came to the Lions' rescue by adding another goal for the Lions, assisted by Trevor Petersen and Sal Filice. The Rams couldn't recover and the Lions won in regulation to earn the important two points.
 
The Lions will head up north to Thunder Bay, Ont., for a two-game series against the Lakehead Thunderwolves next weekend and will return to Canlan Ice Sports on Friday, Feb. 2 to take on the first-place Guelph Gryphons at 7pm.