The York University Lions men's hockey team made the trip downtown to do battle with the TMU Bold on Friday night. The Bold entered this game as winners of five straight games. The Lions fell 2-0 to the Ontario Tech Ridgebacks on Thursday, but had won their last three contests before that.
Each team had aggressive offensive pushes to start the game, with the squads having several close calls. York was able to draw first blood 12:29 of the opening period when Harry Clark had his wraparound attempt thwarted by Bold netminder Kai Edmonds, but Oliver Lamothe was Johnny on the spot to cash in the rebound for his third of the year to it give the visitors a 1-0 lead.
The home side would respond exactly one minute later at the 13:29 mark. Chris Playfair recovered a loose puck and dished it in-between two Lions to Danill Grigorev, who ripped it past Matt Tovell to tie things up at 1-1.
Two TMU penalties within a minute of each other gave York a 5-on-3 opportunity near the end of the period. The Lions couldn't capitalize, however, as the game remained at 1 after one.
Neither team was able to break the deadlock in the second. The only powerplay of the middle stanza belonged to TMU thanks to a David Mabey high-sticking penalty with 3:31 left to play in the period. Tovell and the Lions were able to kill the penalty, as the game remained tied at 1-1 entering the third.
It was a hotly contested final 20, as each team sought to take the lead. The Bold would do just that with nearly eight minutes left. After Jordan D'Intino's initial shot was blocked by Keaton Oakley, Ian Martin recouped it, spun and backhanded it home to give TMU a 2-1 lead.
Nearly three minutes later, the Lions would find the equalizer. York executed a three-way passing play to perfection, Lucas Eagle forced a turnover and sent it to Oakley, who whipped a cross-ice pass to the rookie Lamothe, who buried his second of the night and fourth of the season tied things up at 2 with just over five minutes remaining, and, eventually, sending it to overtime.
The same climatic action that ended regulation carried over into the extra frame. A pair of Lions breakways from Thomas Lacombe and Brendan McCarthy and a crossbar from Kevin Gursoy were the best chances for each side. Tovell also stopped an Ian Martin shot with 47 seconds left after he made a great move in tight. The overtime solved nothing, meaning this game needed a shootout.
TMU scored on both its shootout attempts, from Gursoy and Grigorev while Edmunds thwarted shots from Clark and Chase Sandhu, handing the Bold the extra point in a 3-2 shootout win.
LOOKING AHEAD:
The point earned by the Lions tonight means they have now earned points in four of their last five games. They will have the rest of the weekend off before they host the Carleton Ravens on February 8. Puck drop is scheduled for 3:15 pm
