The Wilfrid Laurier University men’s hockey team lost to the University of Waterloo Warriors on Oct. 24 in an intense battle for the puck.
The game was a battle to the end with back-to-back goals from both teams until the Warriors took the win in overtime with a final score of 6-5.
The Warriors started strong in the first period with their solid offensive team, which led them to score the first goal of the game four minutes in. Their lead didn’t last long, with Laurier defenseman Callum Chisholm, a second-year kinesiology and physical education major, scoring two minutes later.
Second-year kinesiology and physical education student Samuel Williamson got the assist on Chisholm’s goal.
“They’re a good team,” said Williamson when asked about the Warriors. “Their record kind of doesn’t show how good they are and they played us tough tonight.”
The teams went back and forth throughout the rest of the first period. When the Warriors had strong defense, the Golden Hawks had strong offence to match them. However, third-year defenseman Bryce Kilbourne was able to score Laurier’s second goal of the night before the end of the first period.
The second period was long and not as strong for the Golden Hawks, with both teams receiving many penalties. The Warriors managed to score just under seven minutes into the period to tie the game at 2-2.
Following Waterloo’s second goal, the Warriors took a two-minute penalty for interference, which gave the Golden Hawks their third goal of the night on the power play, scored by first-year arts student Brendan Anderson.
Eli Reimer, a second-year business major and centerman, got an assist on Anderson’s goal.
“They’re a pretty good team, they’re very physical and play hard,” said Reimer on the Warriors’ performance.
While reflecting on the second period, Reimer described that the game was as physical as he expected it to be, with Laurier having a total of 37 penalty minutes by the end of the game.
The Warriors scored two more goals in the second period, which was followed by a goalie swap for the Golden Hawks 10 minutes into the second.
Goaltender Ventsislav Shingarov, a second-year economics major, was pulled after allowing four goals on 17 shots. He was replaced by first-year goaltender Tristan Malboeuf, who finished the game with 30 saves.
The second period ended with a bang, with multiple fights and many penalties for both teams. First-year global studies major Matthieu Paquin fought with Waterloo defenseman Payton Robinson, who left the ice bleeding.
Because of this fight, the Golden Hawks started the third period with a five-minute penalty kill. This allowed the Warriors to score right from the face-off, 25 seconds into the period on goaltender Malboeuf. The third period was a battle, with the Golden Hawks pushing to stay in the game despite being two goals behind.
Just over halfway through the period, fourth-year arts major Sam Rhodes scored for the Golden Hawks. With Laurier being only one goal behind, the battle was on.
The Golden Hawks were leading the game in shots, but the Warriors were starting to catch up near the end and neither team was giving up. Waterloo took an unfortunate penalty for tripping near the end of the third period, putting Laurier on the powerplay and allowing Rhodes to score his second goal of the night to tie the game with one minute and 25 seconds left of the game.
When asked to pick one highlight from the game, Reimer highlighted one of the goals. “Our third period goal to tie it up. That was a pretty good one,” he said.
He was right, and the Golden Hawks now had a shot at beating the Warriors. With one minute left, they had to push it to overtime.
With a score of 5-5 and just over one minute left in the game, first-year right winger and communications studies major Justin O’Donnell took a two-minute penalty, forcing the Golden Hawks to finish the period on the penalty kill.
With 56 seconds left on the penalty kill, the team started overtime knowing they had to fight to stay in this game. Both teams came out strong, but it was a short battle with Waterloo scoring just over five minutes into overtime to win the game.
Despite the loss, the Golden Hawks put up a good fight that they hoped to carry into their next game as they headed to Quebec on Nov. 1 to face off against the Université du Québec Patriotes which they lost 1-6.
