The York University Lions men's hockey team opened up their 2026-27 campaign on Friday night in Waterloo as they took on the Warriors in the first of four meetings during the fall term between the two teams.
The Lions were the beneficiaries of a fortunate bounce that opened the scoring late in the first. A three-way passing play ended up on the stick of Olivier Lamothe from Thomas Johnston in tight. Lamothe attempted to slide it back in front Johnston and had his pass go in off the glove of Sami Douglas-Najem and past Warrior goaltender Matt Onuska to make it 1-0 for the visitors with 2:23 left to go in the period.
York added two more in the middle frame. First, a good forecheck from the Lions allowed Ethan Strik to send the puck back to Bryan McAndrews at the point. His shot was redirected home by Rylan Ringor in front to double the Lions lead. Then, just 1:40 later, with the Lions on the power play, some strong puck retrieval from Lucas Eagle set up a Brandon McCartney point shot that found the back of the net through a screen to put the visiting Lions up 3-0 with 9:38 to play in the second.
However, the Warriors responded before the end of the period. A point shot from Brendan Bays found its way through traffic and into the blue paint behind Dawson Smith, where it was tapped home by Jaden Goldie on the power play to make it 3-1. The Warriors added a second when Jayden Reyers found a streaking Evan Klein, who finished off the play in front to make it a one-goal game after two.
The Warriors tied it in the third when another Bays point shot ended up behind Smith, this time tipped home by Josh Fishman to make it 3-3. Waterloo then took its first lead of the night with 6:41 to go after Owen Wilson's shot from well out ended up on the stick of Max Monette, who spun and put it past Smith to make it 4-3 Warriors. The Lions thought they had the equalizer when a harmless-looking red-line shoot-in from Nich McKee slipped in behind Onuska, but somehow the Warriors were able to bail out their goaltender and clear it off the line. Waterloo added an empty-netter courtesy of Fishman with nine seconds to play, sealing a 5-3 Warrior win.
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The Lions will look to bounce back on Saturday night when they take on the other Waterloo-based OUA squad, the Laurier Golden Hawks, from the Waterloo Memorial Recreation Complex. Puck drop is set for 7:00 p.m., live on OUA TV.
