The No. 7 Laurier Golden Hawks scored an exciting 5-4 win over the No. 9 Calgary Dinos. The Hawks were led by the strong goaltending of Mike Thomson. Laurier's goals came from Luke Girard, Blair Grennier, Riley Moher, Rob Dmytruk, and Luke Dubbin. Nathan Peacock had three assists and Mark Voakes two helpers for the Hawks. Voakes played an excellent all-around game for the Hawks. Aaron Richards and Wade Davis led the Dinos with a goal and an assist each. Barry Hormon and Torrie Wheat got the other Calgary markers.
Laurier now has a 1-1 Varsity Cup record and Calgary goes to 0-2 in tourney play. Laurier plays Lakehead Thursday night at 7:30 pm EST in Varsity Cup Day 3 action while Calgary plays Toronto in the Day 3 afternoon game at 4:00 pm EST.
Shots on goal were 48-42 in favour of the Dinos. Calgary went 2-8 on the powerplay while Laurier was 1-9 with the man advantage.
Calgary opened the scoring at 3:27 of the first when Wheat converted a nice pass from Tyrell Lucas. Girard tied it for the Hawks at 9:31, set up by Voakes. Laurier took the lead at 12:20 when Blair Grennier finished a nice play set up by Jordan Fair and Peacock. The Dinos tied it at two at 12:42 when Richards banged in a rebound with assists going to Conlan Seder and Wade Davis. The Dinos had a slight edge in play in the first and outshot Laurier 15-13.
Laurier took the lead with the man advantage at 7:56 of the second when Moher blasted a shot from the point that beat Calgary netminder Ryan Quinn. Rob Dmytruk made it 4-2 Hawks at 10:38 when he beat a fallen Quinn with assists going to Peacock and Girard. At this point, Calgary Coach Scott Atkinson pulled goalie Ryan Quinn and put in Scott Talbot. Barry Hormon brought the Dinos within one at 11:46 when his one-timer beat Laurier's Thomson. Assists went to Alex Lalonde and Paul Gentile. The Hawks took the lead to 5-3 at 12:51 when Dubbin knocked in a rebound off a shot by Peacock. Calgary outshot Laurier 16-12 in the second.
The Dinos pressed early in the third and were rewarded at 3:59 when Wade Davis fired a low shot, on the powerplay, that was deflected by Laurier's Thomson. The rest of the period was very entertaining as both teams had good scoring chances and both Calgary's Talbot and Laurier's Thomson stood firm in their respective goals. Thomson made the save of the game at 12:38 when he kicked out a hard Calgary point shot that went to the Dinos Andre Blanchette parked in front of the goal. Blanchette blasted a shot that Thomson snagged neatly with his glove while sprawled on his back. The Dinos had one more opportunity at the end of the game when Laurier took a late penalty with 1:38 left. The Dinos pressed but Thomson made three good stops and the Hawks defense did the rest to ensure the win. Shot in the third were 17-17.
The Three Stars were:
1) Mike Thomson: Laurier
2) Mark Voakes: Laurier
3) Aaron Richards: Calgary