Final tune up for the playoffs: Hawks beat Lancers 3-2

Photo by Alex Trkulja

The Laurier men’s hockey team hit the ice Saturday evening to try and win their fifth in a row and close out the regular season with a win at home.

Laurier managed to do just that as they defeated the Windsor Lancers 3-2.

“For us, it was a game where we got better as the game went on. I thought our energy was good and we were able to play pretty well defensively,” said head coach Greg Puhalski.

A very even back and forth period was broken up by Will Cook who made a nice tip on Alex Adams’ point shot to beat the Lancers goaltender and give the Hawks a 1-0 lead late in the opening frame.

The next period began and the Hawks looked strong again as Neil Aird was able to fire one past the Windsor goaltender and give the Hawks a 2-0 lead.

Soon after, Laurier’s star goaltender, Colin Furlong, was forced to leave the game briefly due to an equipment malfunction.

The Lancers took advantage of Furlong’s absence as Blake Blondeel was able to beat goaltender Vinny Merante and cut the Hawks’ lead in half.

Shortly afterwards, Furlong returned to the ice and headed back in goal after sorting out his equipment.

Luke Hietkamp restored Laurier’s two goal lead just before the second period was up and the teams broke for the second intermission with the Hawks up by two.

Laurier played a strong defensive third, giving up few chances until Hietkamp took a late holding penalty, giving the Lancers their chance to get back in it.

Dylan Denomme was able to beat Furlong on the power play and cut the Hawks’ lead to one with just less than three minutes left.

Despite the Lancers best effort to try and tie the game, Furlong and the rest of the Golden Hawks shut the door and skated away with a 3-2 win and their fifth in a row.

The Hawks will see the Lancers again tonight as they open the first round of the playoffs tonight against Windsor.

“For us, it’s about shoring up a couple areas to be better in and keep getting better as a team; we can’t concern ourselves about who we’re playing,” he said.

“We’ll just pay attention to a few particular things that [Windsor does] as a team, but we have to make sure we keep rolling, using all four lines, all six [defence] and make sure everyone is contributing; that’s how we’ve had our success here at the end of the season.”

Puck drop is set for 7:30 p.m. tonight at Sun life Financial Arena.

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