Brock’s men’s hockey team looked to continue a torrid start to their season coming into this past weekend.
The Badgers returned home to Canada Games Park on Friday, Oct. 20th having won eight matches straight, including their first four regular season matches.
The Badgers lost their first game of the year in exhibition play against the Ohio University Bobcats but came back to win the follow-up 7-0. Brock hasn’t looked back since, winning every match while only surrendering 1.5 goals per game.
Brock’s first match of the weekend came Friday against the Queen’s University Gaels, who also entered the game with an undefeated 4-0 record. The Gaels also entered with the most goals for (24 to Brock’s 17) and best goal differential (+15 to Brock’s +10) in the Ontario University Athletics (OUA). Brock projected to have their hands full with a high-powered offence and equally stingy defence.
Despite the promise of a tightly matched offensive showdown, the early returns on this prediction were not great.
On the contrary, for much of the first period both sides found themselves embroiled in a gritty war of attrition, each team fighting doggedly for every loose puck. Neither the Badgers nor Gaels budged an inch as the teams’ transition and breakouts devolved into chip-and-chase games, only furthering the games’ back-and-forth intensity.
As the period wore on with both teams struggling to break through the neutral zone, the Badgers started to find more success with their play off the cycle. This manifested itself in several flurries of chances for Brock at the Queen’s goalmouth.
Brock left the first outshooting the Gaels 16-8, but for all their chances, couldn’t find the back of the net, ending the period in a 0-0 draw.
The Badgers came into the second picking up right where they left off, using what’d been working well for them: creating turnovers deep in the Gaels’ end and working the cycle. Brock created many great early chances this way, keeping Queens on their toes.
Finally, their hard-nosed game paid dividends.
Near the five-minute mark of the second, defenseman Oliver Deroches flipped the puck into the Queens’ zone where it was picked up by a Gaels defender in the high slot.
Struggling to handle the puck, the defenseman was unprepared for the forechecking of Jordan Stock, who forced a turnover right in front of the Queens net. Christophe Cote followed the play to the net and made no mistake with the loose puck, firing a snapshot by the goalie’s glove for a 1-0 Badgers lead.
After the goal, the period was bogged down by penalties on both sides for much of the middle of the second frame. However, with five-and-a-half minutes left, a shot-block sent the Badgers up ice on an odd-man rush with captain Jared Marino leading the charge.
Marino entered the Gaels’ zone and threw a pass to the right wing that bounced to Justin Brack who was barreling into the high slot. Brack pulled the puck to his backhand, evading a Queens defender, before slinging the puck to Ryan Stepien who slapped it home on a one-timer.
After fending off a few more of Queens’ chances, Brock seemed in danger of losing their 2-0 lead after Jacob Roach took a penalty with less than a minute remaining. The Badgers would make short work of their disadvantage though.
An active stick from Matthew Barnes allowed Stock to pick up the puck on the half-wall and burst up the ice on another two-on-one with Cote. Stock found Cote on the right wing in the neutral zone, giving him plenty of time to walk in, pick his spot and fire one past the goalie from the top of the circle.
After the 3-0 goal, it was all academic for the Badgers, who piled on three more in the third, coming away with a convincing 6-0 win over their highest-ranked opponent to date.
Cote’s two goals lead the team in that category while Stock, who added a third helper on Ethan Sims’ goal in the final period, lead in assists. Goaltender Connor Ungar finished with a 33-save shutout.
Brock got ready to do it all over again the next day, playing the Royal Military College of Canada (RMC) Paladins on the 21st.
From the get-go, the Badgers faced little pressure.
Seemingly out of their depth, the Paladins were outclassed by the Badgers. RMC’s dismantling began early as well, with them falling behind 6-1 by midway through the second period, while only mustering eight shots on net.
The early gap quickly brought out the ferocity from both sides. Either side was looking for every opportunity to lay the body or get an extra slash in. A Paladins forward even mistakenly landed a small bodycheck on a referee with unfortunate timing.
With both teams guilty of mouthing-off and a number of undisciplined stick-checks, the second half of the game was almost entirely comprised of shorthanded hockey.
RMC briefly brought the game closer on one such powerplay, but Ethan Simms struck soon after with his third of the night, stretching the score to 7-2.
By the end of the third period, the lead had only gotten more lopsided with the Badgers piling on two more, winning by a final score of 9-2.
Brock’s next two games fall during a road trip to Quebec where the Badgers will face McGill University on Oct. 27th and Concordia University the following evening.
For Brock’s full schedule and results, please go to gobadgers.ca.
