The York University Lions men's hockey team battled the UQTR Patriotes on Saturday afternoon in the fifth annual Mark Cross Memorial Game. Celebrating the life of the late former Lion, the event marked the return of Cross' parents, Brad and Marilyn, as well as Lions alumni Shayne Rover, Kaleb Dalhgren and Derek McVey. Rover, Dahlgren and McVey are all former winners of the Mark Cross Heart of a Lion Award, the highest honour bestowed on a York men's hockey player.
Play was chippy in the opening half of the first, but the Patriotes opened the scoring with a pair of goals in 32 seconds. The first came off the stick of Connor Frenette off a rebound, with the second coming on a tap-in from defenseman Christophe Rondeau, putting UQTR up 2-0. However, York was able to strike back thanks to Keeton Oakley, who ripped one past Patriotes goalie William Grimard off a feed from Hunter Brown for his team-leading sixth of the year to cut the lead in half. The visitors paced the shot clock 13-5 in the first, but the score remained 2-1 after one.
The Lions earned the equalizer off a wrist shot by defenseman David Mabey that made its way through a maze and past Grimard after a scramble in front. Mabey's first, from Oakley and Olivier Lamothe, tied it at 2-2 5:58 into the middle frame. Shortly after, some 4-on-4 hockey gave the Lions multiple chances, but they could not find the go-ahead goal. However, another scramble, this one in front of the Lions net late in the period resulted in the loose puck being put home by UQTR's Mathis Cloutier and into the top corner, giving the Patriotes a 3-2 lead as the period closed. The Lions did manage to kill off a penalty late in the frame to keep themselves within a goal through 40.
York began the third on a power play of their own after Mavrick Gauthier took a hooking call at the 20:00 mark of the second. Although they could not convert, they equalized again minutes later, courtesy of Aiden MacIntosh, who fired a puck by Grimard, who was down and out, for his first of the year. The officials discussed a potential goalie interference call, but the goal stood to tie it at 3-3. Brendan McCarthy and Ethan Strik had the helpers. However, the Patriotes would re-take the lead 5:17 later, as Zachary Gravel capitalized on a turnover and ?red a wrister past Carter Serhyenko to make it 4-3 UQTR with11:38 left. York was awarded its second power play with 9:07 to go, and this time they made good as Brock McLeod put home a rebound to tie the game for the third time, and eventually sending it to overtime.
In what was a tension-packed overtime, the Lions found the puck in their own end and stormed back down the ice on a 2-on-1, where Connor Senken found Lamothe driving hard to the net, and he beat Grimard to give the Lions a thrilling 5-4 overtime win – their first Mark Cross Memorial Game victory – and extend the win streak to three.
LOOKING AHEAD:
The Lions will head back out on the road to face the Ontario Tech Ridgebacks on Thursday, in the fourth and final meeting between the two teams, with the winner taking the season series. Puck drop will commence at 7:00 pm on OUA TV.
