December 4, 2006 (OUA Hamilton,Ont.)- The Waterloo Warriors havent won the Queens Cup since the 1995/96 season but the OUAs Far West leaders are showing they have the makings of a championship contender as they continue to knock off the competition. Waterloo capped another four-point weekend off with a huge 5-1 home win over Saturday over the No. 4 nationally ranked UQTR Patriotes, who were previously undefeated in regulation time. Sean Roche scored both of his goals in the second period as the Warriors cruised to victory after establishing a 3-0 lead after 20 minutes. Frank Fazio, Kevin Hurley and Doug Spooner staked the powerful Waterloo squad to the early three-goal margin and veteran goaltender Curtis Darling did the rest, stopping 24 of the 25 shots he faced for his ninth win on the year. Standout Thiery Poudrier had the lone goal for UQTR. Waterloo began the week with a 4-1 win over the Concordia Stingers Friday. Roche had a goal and an assist in that game, while goaltender Jimmy Bernier got the call and turned away 26 of 27 Stinger shots. The two victories brought Waterloos record to 13-2-1-0 for an OUA best 27 points, five ahead of the Lakehead Thunderwolves in the division.
It was a tough weekend of play for the Quebec powers. Not only did the Patriotes drop their first regulation loss in Waterloo, they were also on the wrong end of a 2-0 decision against the surging Western Mustangs in London Sunday. Brad Topping was sharp making 31 saves for the shutout as the Mustangs put together their third straight win. With the game tied 0-0 after 40 minutes, Western came out strong in the third period, grabbing an early goal by Tom Harrison at the 2:57 mark. Veteran Sal Peralta iced it with an empty-netter at 19:43. The Mustangs were coming off an impressive 7-1 drubbing of Concordia the previous night. Peralta led the way with the opening goal and then added an assist in that win. Jeff Martens, Chris Eade and Jesse Boucher all chipped in a goal and an assist each.
While UQTR tasted their first two defeats, the No. 5 McGill Redmen returned to the sight of their Queens Cup loss last spring in Thunder Bay and left for home with just one point against Lakehead. McGill outshot the Wolves 35-21 but still needed a third-period goal from Sam Bloom to secure a 3-3 tie Friday with the defending OUA champs. Matt Soares had given Lakehead a 3-2 lead with his second goal and third point of the night at 10:07 of the third period. Jeff Richards also scored for the home team, while Tobias Whelan had two assists. Chris Churchill-Smith and Benoit Martin scored for the Redmen. In the rematch Saturday, Lakehead overcame a two-goal deficit and scored three times in the decisive third period to pull out an improbable 3-2 win. Whelan had two goals. He scored shorthanded to get the Wolves on the board and after adding his second of the period with less than three minutes remaining to knot the game 2-2, Steve Rawski finished the Redmen off on the power play with just three seconds remaining in the game.
Mid West leading Laurier split their two games with Brock this week, keeping them a healthy eight points in front of the second-place Badgers. The Hawks won the first penalty-filled affair between the two rivals 5-0 Thursday in Waterloo. Mark Voakes scored to give the home team a 1-0 lead in the first period, while Nick Vergeer, Chad Kennedy, Jayme Helmer and Matt Grennier all tallied in the third period. Aaron Forer made 22 saves in the win. A total of 128 penalty minutes were handed out in the chippy match. Brock responded in the rematch with some late dramatics from Ryan Del Monte, who notched a hat trick with 38 seconds left in regulation to give the Badgers a 4-3 win in St. Catharines Saturday. Eric Toonders also scored for Brock, with Tyler Leggo picking up three helpers. Second-year goalie Tom Lee 34 saves for his fifth win of the season. The Badgers have 17 points on the year after improving to 8-7-0-1 with the v