ST. CATHARINES, Ont. - The Ryerson Rams showed no signs of holiday fatigue on Thursday night, cruising to a 3-1 victory over their divisional opponent Brock Badgers. 

Steven Harland (Toronto) opened the scoring with his second of the year. Mathew Santos' (Toronto) power play blast was the winner for the Rams, while Matt Mistele (Whitby, Ont.) added a third tally later on. Mistele's goal, along with his assist on Santos' marker, has tied him for the all-time career points lead as a Ram with 132. The captain will look to become the record-holder when the Rams hit the ice on Saturday.

The Rams defence was tested early as they were forced to kill off a two-man advantage. Starter Garrett Forrest (Ashburn, Va.) was up to the task, shutting down Brock's attackers. The Rams' penalty kill unit looked as efficient as ever in the opening frame. The unit sports the third-best percentage in the OUA, operating at 87 percent prior to Thursday's match. 

Shortly after the penalty kill, a forechecking Steven Harland pounced on a loose puck in the faceoff circle and beat Mario Culina's glove, making it 1-0. Ryerson's penalty-killers came up big again after Matt Nosella (Etobicoke, Ont.) went off for checking from behind. 

Late in the first, it was the Rams' turn on the power play. Mathew Santos wasted no time, blowing a one-timer by Culina. Thanks to Santos' 11th of the year, Ryerson entered the first intermission with a 2-0 lead. 

The back and forth play cooled off in the second as Ryerson's penalty minutes continued to add up. Despite their shutdown play, a stretch pass found Brock's Jared Marino, who made it 2-1 on a power play breakaway. 

A spearing double-minor for Jordan Sambrook gave the Rams an extended power play late in the period, but clogged shooting lanes kept the Rams' from the scoreboard. 

After two periods, the Rams held on to a 2-1 lead while racking up 22 penalty minutes, largely in part due to Nosella's earlier misconduct. 

About halfway into the final frame, Matt Mistele tapped a rebound into an open cage for some insurance on the power play. Almost immediately after Mistele's marker, Forrest came up with a couple of huge stops, and the Rams killed off yet another Brock man-advantage.

Ryerson held off the Badgers' final attacks and closed out their first game of the decade, winning 3-1. When the dust settled, the teams had amassed 36 cumulative penalty minutes, 24 of which belonged to the Rams. Ryerson went 2-for-5 on the man-advantage, including Santos' game winner. Forrest and the rest of the Rams' penalty kill went 5-for-6 on the night as the netminder made 31 stops. 

The Rams are back in action on Saturday in Waterloo as they face the Laurier Golden Hawks for the first time this season at 7:07 p.m.