Fresh off of splitting two games against Lakehead University last weekend, the 6-3-0 Brock men’s hockey team returned home, looking to move on from their third loss of the season.
Two wins on the weekend could help them move into the top two of Ontario University Athletics (OUA) West Division.
The first game against the Wilfrid Laurier University Golden Hawks kicked off Friday evening at Canada Games Park. With a 4-5-1 record, the Golden Hawks also sat within striking distance of the Badgers on the table.
It took some time for the Badgers to get their feet under them.
In what was mostly a scoreless first period, Brock struggled to create many high-quality chances and couldn’t finish on what opportunities they did have. Though there were spurts of Brock having dangerous rush opportunities, two early penalty kills kept them on their heels.
This lack of discipline would cost Brock their first goal, coming on the powerplay with 12 minutes remaining in the period.
As the first wore on, Brock began to have more offensive zone success off of low-to-high plays and work below the goal line. However, the Badgers still had difficulty gaining the zone with control and couldn’t solve the Laurier goaltender.
Thanks to this strong work off the cycle, Brock left the first with all the momentum in their favour, even if this hadn’t paid dividends on the scoreboard just yet.
That change would come soon enough.
A late penalty by Laurier put Brock on the powerplay to start the second.
Spending over the entire first minute of the second in the Golden Hawks’ end, Brock snapped the puck around and battled to keep plays alive, eventually getting to Tyler Burnie who cashed in on his third goal of the season with a left circle wrist shot.
Less than two minutes later, Brock grabbed their first lead of the game, putting the press on Laurier. Marrying the transition abilities we saw early in the first, with the cycle and second-effort game of the late first, Jordan Stock walked into a right circle wrist shot that beat the goalie clean.
They weren’t done yet either. In only 25 seconds, Tyler Rollo put Brock up by two on a low slot snapshot preceded by a quick net-front pass by Adam Berg.
In a more comfortable position, Brock did not maintain the same urgency for the rest of the second. With the exception of a Brock powerplay and a brief spurt in the last five minutes, after Brock’s third goal, the second period was mostly a neutral zone game.
Though not creating very much and relying increasingly on the dump-in, Brock also didn’t surrender much in the way of high-danger chances until Laurier brought the game within one with a minute 30 remaining. After a great penalty kill with a couple of shorthanded chances, Laurier grabbed their second of the game on a jam play in front.
After 40 minutes and only a one goal separation, Friday’s game looked like an even matchup entering the third with both teams struggling and controlling in spurts of the contest.
Bringing the energy they left the second with, Brock pushed the pace early, forcing turnovers in the neutral and offensive zones, and attacking off the rush, creating dangerous looks on net.
After a powerplay and numerous good looks, the mounting pressure against Laurier eventually came to a head on a Ethan Sims deflection for a 4-2 lead.
From there, the floodgates were open. Laurier had no further answer for Brock’s fourth goal, and surrendered two more in the next five minutes, losing 6-2.
Defenceman AJ Cook was the standout performer on the evening, earning four assists, two of them being primary helpers.
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After a game where they dominated for stretches and looked passive in others, Brock was hoping to parlay Friday’s big win on Friday into a full 60-minute effort on Saturday against the Waterloo Warriors.
This vision took over a period to materialize.
After a scoreless first period with only two penalties, neither side were able to eke out a discernable advantage, though it would not stay that way long.
Zach Taylor started the second period off with a bang, slapping a point shot past Waterloo for the game’s first goal.
After some strong forechecking and a slick no-look, backhand feed from below the goal line by Jacob Roach, Captain Jared Marino potted his sixth goal of the season in tight.
Laurier would add their first goal with the minutes ticking down in the second, but like in Friday’s game, their closeness would be short-lived.
30 seconds was all Adam Berg needed to reclaim the two-goal lead. Brock padded this lead seven minutes later on a point shot by Olivier Desroches, firing one past the goalie’s blocker for his first OUA goal. The final goal of the game came with a little less than half of the third remaining. Tyler Burnie’s breakaway tally stood as the final marker, giving Brock a 5-1 win to cap off their 2-0 weekend.
The win put Brock at an 8-3-0 record on the season, good for second in the OUA West and tied for fourth in the entire OUA.
Brock’s next game comes against Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) on Thursday, Nov. 24 in Toronto. At 8-3-1, TMU is breathing right down Brock’s neck, so this next match could be a key one. For the team’s full schedule and results, check out their gobadgers.ca page.