The York University men's hockey team were defeated by the Ryerson Rams 8-3 after a huge third period by the Rams at Canlan Ice Sports on Friday evening.
 
The Intensity was high as the two top teams of the OUA West competed for the first time this season. The Lions were close in shots to the Rams with 32 compared to the Rams' 40, however the Rams dominated the third period scoring five goals with only 12 shots on net. Leading the way for the Rams was Matt Mistele who earned himself a hat trick with a goal in the first period and two goals in the third.
 
The Lions were off to a good start when Morgan Messenger, who was assisted by Justin Maiolino and Sal Filice, found the top right corner and scored a power play goal at 5:50 to lead 1-0. However, the Rams were able to score two late goals in the first period to jump ahead of the Lions 2-1. The first goal was at 18:32 by Matt Mistele, assisted by Hayden McCool to tie the game, while the second goal came five seconds before the end of the first period when Devon Paliani found the back of the Lions' net.
 
In the second period the Lions were able to tie up the game with another power play goal at 11:33, this time by Josh LaFrance, assisted by Alex Mowbray and Daniel Nikandrov. Yet again, the Rams found their momentum late in the period when Marcus Hinds scored a goal at 19:49 to take a 3-2 lead over the Lions at the end of the period.
 
The Lions were able to get one more goal in the third period at 11:38 when Dexter Bricker and LaFrance assisted Stefano Pezzetta who found the top left corner. The Rams dominated the third period though, scoring five goals to earn themselves their 8-3 victory. The goal scorers for the Rams were Mistele with two, Hinds, Jesse Barwell, and Hayden McCool who scored in an empty net.
 
The Lions will be heading to Thunder Bay, Ont. on Nov. 9 and Nov. 10 to play back-to-back games against the Lakehead Thunderwolves. Both games are scheduled to start at 7pm.