With the frustrations of a lost opportunity at the Queens Cup back in March behind them, the McGill Redmen opened the OUA mens hockey campaign as one of three undefeated teams, grabbing four points in two big wins over the Concordia Stingers and the UQTR Patriotes. Guillame Demers had two goals and an assist, while veteran Shawn Shewchuk also add a pair of goals in McGills dominating 8-3 win over the Stingers. Mathieu Leclerc and Louis-Simon Allaire added a goal and an assist each in a chippy game that had 96 penalty minutes in total. All-star goaltender Mathieu Poitras made 32 saves for the win, while chipping in an assist. Poitras got the call again Saturday and posted a big shutout in a 1-0 OT win over UQTR. Captain Benoit Martin scored the OT winner to help the Redmen grab a second straight win in the opening weekend of OUA play.
The Toronto Varsity Blues and Brock Badgers were the other two teams to start the season with a pair of wins. Third-year centre Jonathon Labelle scored his second and third goals of the night in the third period to lift the Badgers to a thrilling 5-4 comeback win over the Queens Golden Gaels Friday. With Brock down 4-3, Labelle, who also had an assist, scored at 7:58 and 11:31 of the third to secure the Badgers first win. Matt Harpwood made 33 saves in the victory, while Brady Olsen led Queens with a goal and a helper. Tyler Leggo scored twice, while Pat Selin and Josh Bonar added a goal and an assist each in Brocks 6-2 win over the RMC Paladins Saturday. Both of Leggos goals came in the second, helping the Badgers establish an insurmountable 5-1 lead after 40 minutes. Harpwood turned away 23 of 25 shots for his second straight win.
Alex Nagribianko scored on a short-handed effort late in the third period and then added an empty-netter as the Blues won their first game of the season 4-2 over 2005 semi-finalist the Laurier Golden Hawks. Ryan Grinnell made 47 saves in the Toronto net, including 17 in the decisive third period. The Blues followed that opening victory up with an offensive explosion in a 7-2 win over the Guelph Gryphons at Varsity Arena Saturday. Matt Willoughby and Jordan Grant helped the Gryphs take a 2-1 lead into the first intermission but Torontos Simon Barg scored two in the second and the Blues added four more in the third on goals from Nagribianko, Anthony Pallotta, Chris Gray and Julian Sarraino for the win. Grinnell upped his record to 2-0-0, making 22 saves in the process.
The Far West Division has a four-team logjam already as the defending OUA champion Lakehead Thunderwolves, Waterloo Warriors, Western Mustangs and Windsor Lancers all went 1-1-0 this weekend. The new-look Wolves got a third-period power-play marker from Tobias Whelan, his second of the night, as Lakehead skated to a 5-4 win over the Warriors in the first of two weekend meetings. Whelan had also scored the tying effort with a man advantage, helping the Thunderwolves get the win despite being out-shot 43-31. Waterloo answered in the rematch as Ryan MacGregor scored 39 seconds into the second period Saturday, securing a 2-1 win for the host Warriors. Mark Soares gave the visitors a 1-0 lead in the first but Sean Moir equalized, setting the stage for MacGregors winner. Curtis Darling made 20 stops for his first win of the campaign.
Jordie Preston had a hat-trick and an assist for a four-point night as the Lancers beat the Mustangs 7-2 in the opener of a weekend home-and home. Preston notched twice on the power play in the first period and added his third, also with the man advantage, at 14:23 of the second. Drew Petkoff added a pair of goals while Reese Kalleitner was sharp making 47 saves in the Windsor net. Western appeared ready to drop another after going down 2-0 in the rematch Saturday but the Mustangs stormed back to score seven unanswered for a 7-2 win in front of a pleased crowd at the John Labatt Centre in London. Steve Benedetti and Jesse Boucher each tallied