Men’s hockey comes out flat in series opener

The Laurier Golden Hawks men’s hockey team showed practically no fight as the visiting Guelph Gryphons rolled to an easy 3-0 win in game one of their Ontario University Atheltics (OUA) playoff series. The Hawks were badly outshot in all three periods and Laurier’s lack of any concerted effort resulted in a laughably easy night for Gryphon starting net-minder Andrew Loverock, who turned aside 24 not-so-menacing Hawk shots for the shutout.

Recently named OUA West player of the year, Ryan Daniels was forced into making some tremendous saves for Laurier despite giving up three goals on 28 shots in just two periods of action. Rookie backup David Clement of Oakville came in to start the third for the purple and gold for his first action since October 22nd, and made 10 saves in relief.

The Hawks’ performance was incredibly poor in all aspects of the game. Their power play that finished the regular season ranked number one in all of Canada was absolutely toothless and their effort along the boards and in the faceoff circle was brutal.

The purple and gold skaters will have to be much better to make a series of it, and will get a chance at redemption on Saturday night in Guelph for game two.