WATERLOO, Ont - After sacrificing all three goals with Laurier on the power-play, the Rams' four-game win streak ended in a 3-1 loss to the Golden Hawks on Saturday night.
Both squads came in with momentum, with the Hawks fresh off a 7-3 win over Western on Friday and the Rams coming off an overtime win over the OUA-best Toronto Varsity Blues on Thursday.
Tonight, Hayden McCool (Whitby, Ont) potted the lone goal for Ryerson while Laurier's Anthony Conti scored a natural hat-trick for the Golden Hawks.
In the first period alone, eight minutes shorthanded for the Rams allowed Laurier to take a 2-0 lead. Matt Mistele's high stick put Ryerson on the penalty kill early on, but the Rams were up to the task, killing the double-minor off smoothly.
Mistele was sent to the box again on a boarding call a few minutes later. The Rams' penalty kill finally broke when Garrett Forrest (Ashburn, Va.) was caught out of position after playing the puck. Conti had little trouble firing it into the empty cage, making it 1-0.
Brandon Glover (London, Ont) then went off on a hooking call, and Conti scored again, this time on a snapshot from the faceoff circle.
When the Rams had a power-play chance late in the first, they failed to capitalize and left Ryerson in need of a regroup in the second.
The Rams did manage to stay out of the box in the next 20 minutes, but were kept from the scoreboard. Despite outshooting the Hawks 16-6 in the second, Laurier's Matt Williams made every stop, and the Hawks killed another Rams power-play.
In the third, Ryerson came out energized. McCool's quick shot gave the Rams just what they needed under two minutes into the period, making it a one-goal game.
A golden chance for the game-tying goal came when the Rams went on the man-advantage about ten minutes into the third. However, they spent most of their power-play retrieving pucks cleared into their own end. A minute after their man-advantage expired, Andrew Mullen (Toronto) went off for elbowing.
Conti fired in his third of the night, once again on the power-play. Laurier ended up going 3-for-5 on the night while the Rams went 0-for-3 with the man-advantage.
Ryerson's loss to Laurier marks their first defeat of 2020. It also puts an end to their four-game road trip, which began back on January 2nd. The Rams return home on January 17th for winter homecoming. WOCO is free for all students with their OneCard, staff, and alumni. Puck drop against York is scheduled for 7:15 p.m. with doors openi at the MAC opening at 6:00 p.m.
