The York University Lions men's hockey team was defeated by a score of 5-3 by the Ryerson Rams in a rare Wednesday afternoon game at the Mattamy Athletic Centre.
 
The Lions controlled play for large stretches of the opening period and their penalty killing was particularly strong. The highlight was a shorthanded goal by Brandon Yeamans off a face-off that levelled the score at one goal apiece at the 4:06 mark after Ryerson took an early lead two minutes in.
 
Brendan Browne made it 2-1 four minutes later and the Lions looked like they would carry that lead into the first intermission, but Matt Mistele scored with one second left on the clock to tie the game.
 
The script flipped in the second and the Rams dominated for much of it. They were rewarded midway through the frame on a power play goal by Hayden McCool that gave them the lead again, and five minutes later another power play tally by David Miller increased the advantage to two, where it sat heading into the second intermission.
 
The Lions pulled goaltender Cole Ceci with more than 10 minutes still remaining in the game for an extra attacker and scored a few minutes later when Morgan Messenger continued his hot scoring streak with his fifth goal and eighth point in the last four games. That was as close as the Lions would get, however, as Devon Paliani added an empty netter with one minute left to round out the scoring.
 
The Lions, who have already been eliminated from the playoffs, have one game remaining this season and will host the Laurier Golden Hawks on Saturday night to close out the year. Puck drop is set for 7:15pm at Canlan Ice Sports.