TORONTO - Fresh off a dominating 6-1 win over the defending OUA champion Queen's Gaels, the Ryerson Rams are back at home this weekend for a back-to-back series against the Lakehead Thunderwolves.
Despite a slow start, Ryerson has climbed to a 7-2-2 record and back into the national rankings this week. Their only two regulation losses came against the Guelph Gryphons within their first three games of the season. Since then, the Rams have only looked forward, and now sport a 4-game win streak.
Forwards
Hayden McCool (Whitby, Ont.),
Mathew Santos (Toronto),
Holden Cook (Whitby, Ont.), and
Matt Mistele (Whitby, Ont.) are all producing at a point-per-game basis. With five goals each,
David Miller (Burlington, Ont.) is tied for the scoring lead with Santos.
"I had a good off-season. I'm just keeping things a lot simpler this year and things are going my way," said Miller last week.
While the goals have started to add up for the Rams, the reliance on their penalty kill and starter
Garrett Forrest (Ashburn, Va.) has been vital. Forrest earned himself the honour of OUA male Athlete of the Week, as well as Athlete of the Week at Ryerson and his second Star of the Week this season.
In regards to Forrest's performance last week, head coach
Johnny Duco commented, "He's definitely on a roll here. He's playing great and I'm excited for him, he works hard."
With
Taylor Dupuis (New Liskeard, Ont.) out with an injury, Forrest has had quite the workload. When asked on how he stays competitive, the netminder said, "I think for me it's not really physical, but mental." As for Dupuis, Duco said "We're definitely not going to rush him. We'd like to get him in here before the semester ends."
Forrest's stellar goaltending, combined with Ryerson's OUA-best power-play goals allowed, at just four, has paved the way for their recent success.
After winning their last two, Lakehead sits at a 5-5-1 record and will also look to build their momentum.
This Friday and Saturday, the Thunderwolves head to Mattamy Home Ice with puck drop at 7:15 p.m. on both days. Ryerson students are free with their OneCard.
