It was a banner weekend for Brock Badgers hockey as the men’s squad took down the Nipissing Lakers twice on Feb. 2nd and 3rd. The wins propelled the Badgers to their highest win total in program history (21) and—based on the OUA’s standing tie-breaker rule—sit in first place in the OUA, tied with McGill.
In addition to the team records, goaltender Connor Ungar, who came over to the Badgers this year after four seasons in the Western Hockey League (WHL), also broke Brock’s single-season win record with his 20th win of the season. The old record of 19 was previously held by Logan Thompson, who currently plays for the NHL’s Vegas Golden Knights.
The Badgers would make Ungar work for the record though.
Nipissing was locked in early and pushed the Badgers back on their heels in their defensive zone. Brock’s Matthew Duarte took a roughing penalty less than three minutes into the first, further compounding the pressure.
Thankfully, Ungar and the Badgers stood tall, denying all of the Lakers’ opportunities and turned what could have been an early blow into a rallying point.
Brock owned possession for the back-half of the period but was unable to find the match’s opening marker.
In what has been a hallmark of the Badgers’ play this season, Brock’s special teams units spent a lot of time on the ice in the second period, without any goals going either way. Brock has spent the sixth-most time in the OUA on the powerplay and penalty kill combined.
While the penalty kill has been stellar, ranked second in penalty kill percentage (87.7) and third in goals allowed (14); the powerplay has been mediocre, ranked 13th in efficiency (17.6) and eleventh in goals scored (19).
After two failed Badgers’ powerplays and three successful Badger penalty kills, Brock finally broke through at even strength with only 30 seconds remaining. Cristophe Cote sprung Riley Gannon to break down the wing, who made a feed to Tyler Burnie in front that deflected in, though Gannon was credited with the goal.
After leading by a healthy margin in shots in the second period, the Badgers fell behind in the third, surrendering nearly double the number of shots they took. Nevertheless, Ungar dialled in and not ready to let the record out of his grasp, stopped everything that came his way, including several dangerous looks from the Lakers.
Only feeling like scoring last-second goals that night, the Badgers got their first insurance marker on a Cole Tymkin empty-netter. 18 seconds later, Riley Gannon scored again, adding insult to injury for a 3-0 Badger victory.
The next day, the Badgers again found themselves in a tightly fought match, though a higher-scoring one this time around.
It was Nipissing’s turn to strike first on Feb. 3rd as Laker Elvis Gorontzy-Slack scored the game’s opening goal and his second of the season. Barely over a minute later, the Badgers responded with the tying goal when Justin Brack dropped the puck to a trailing Zach Taylor, who scored his seventh of the season off the rush.
The Lakers found the lead again midway through the second period when Connor Ungar was beaten by a long shot through heavy traffic. However, again the Badgers got right back into the game minutes after thanks to a rush tally, this time coming off Brack’s stick. Brack’s goal was the last of the period before the Badgers began their obligatory parade to the penalty box, though earning two powerplays of their own in the process.
Still tied 2-2, it was Burnie’s time to put his stamp on this game four minutes into the third. Tymkin wrapped the puck around the back of the Lakers’ net, finding Burnie alone in front to bury his 15th of the season.
Despite a couple of close calls for both sides—including another ill-timed penalty for the Badgers with two minutes left—Burnie’s would stand as the game-winning goal as the Badgers clung to a 3-2 victory. Brock’s next—and final—game of the regular season comes at home on Feb. 9th against the University of Toronto Varsity Blues. For more information, visit gobadgers.ca.
