The York University Lions men's hockey team was back in action Wednesday night in Waterloo, playing the fourth of a six-game road trip against the host Warriors.
York was looking to rebound from a loss last Saturday at Lakehead and earn their first win of the calendar year. The Warriors, meanwhile, were playing their inaugural game of 2025 after finishing the fall term with a victory over their in-city rivals, the Laurier Golden Hawks.
It was a bit of a choppy start to this one, as both teams were looking to find their footing early. The Warriors best early chance came off a turnover that bounced into the slot where Jack Phibbs was alone, but his backhand was stopped by Lions goaltender Matt Tovell, who was playing his first game since Nov. 9 at UQTR after being sidelined with injury.
While the Warriors controlled much of the puck possession in the opening period, it was the vistors who drew first blood. Right off a faceoff to the right of Matt Onuska, Brandon Walker and Hunter Brown played catch before Walker's point shot was tipped home by Olivier Lamothe. The Sherbrooke, Que., native's first OUA goal gave the Lions a 1-0 lead 11:12 into the contest.
That goal was followed shortly after by a double-minor to York's Bryan McAndrews. The Lions got an early clear leading to a shorthanded chance, but then were forced to survive more than a minute of offensive zone time shorthanded. However, some good stick work and some key shot blocks in the first half of the four-minute power play kept Waterloo off the board. The Lions were able to stave off the back half of the penalty as well to maintain the lead. They would take that 1-0 advantage into the locker room after 20.
The middle frame saw the Lions continue to play a solid defensive game. They went to their first power play near the midway point of the period, and thought they'd scored just seconds into the man advantage. A scramble ensued off a slot shot from Lucas Theriault, and Chase Sandhu raised his arms in celebration, but Onuska kept it out to keep the score 1-0 York. Moments later, Owen Gilhula lept at the point to keep in a clearing attempt and found the aforementioned Sandhu, but his shot was high over top of the goal.
However, the Lions would eventually get a second off some good work to get the puck high to low down to Brock McLeod, whose centring feed was put home by a wide-open Thomas Lacombe to make it 2-0 Lions. They outshot the Warriors 12-10 in the second and led by a two, through two.
The Warriors got on the board just five minutes into the third. Jaxon Murray passed off to Tate Poppel in the neutral zone and drove hard to the net. Murray sped in on the left side and found the hard-charging Murray, who slid it past Tovell to cut the Lion lead in half. Waterloo nearly tied it with 4:30 to go as Adam Grein dropped it back for Jaden Goldie, whose shot was kicked out by Tovell leaving a massive rebound for Phibbs who put it just wide with Tovell down and out.
That was their best chance to equlaize, however, as the Lions battened down the hatches over the final four minutes, adding an empty netter from Sandhu with 49 seconds left, to solidify their third win of the season, a solid 3-1 victory over the Warriors.
LOOKING AHEAD:
The Lions continue the Western Ontario portion of their road trip against none other than Western on Thursday night. Puck drop from Thompson Arena in London is set for 7:00 pm.
