TORONTO - In their fourth period of play, the Ryerson Rams completed their divisional quarter-final sweep of the Lakehead Thunderwolves with a 2-1 overtime win in front of a home crowd on Saturday night. 

Devon Paliani (LaSalle, Ont.) was the overtime hero, netting Zachary Shankar's (Prescott, Ont.) rebound after 11 minutes of overtime. Shankar also assisted on Steven Harland's (Toronto) opening goal, while Garrett Forrest (Ashburn, Va.) made 30 stops. With their win tonight, the Rams advance to the OUA West semifinals, with their opponent finalized after Sunday's action.

Five minutes in, a Lakehead 2-on-1 was snuffed out by a speeding Jared Walsh (Toronto) and Forrest. Both squads exchanged rushes until Matt Mistele (Whitby, Ont.) went off for cross-checking with eight minutes to go. The Rams killed off the minor as Mathew Santos (Toronto) had a shorthanded breakaway end with a missed shot flying past the far post.

Late in the period, Lakehead's Caleb Boman rang a shot off the outside post from the faceoff circle. The first ended scoreless with Ryerson edging Lakehead 9-8 in shots. 

Just seventeen seconds into the second, Harland put the Rams up one. After taking Jesse Barwell's (Oakville, Ont.) quick pass off his skate, Harland spun and fired it past Lakehead's Brock Aiken from the high slot. 

Harland's tally seemed to ignite the Rams as they poured on pressure for the next few minutes. Among their chances was an astonishing 3-on-0 rush which Adam Craievich (Sarnia, Ont.), perhaps surprised by the open ice, failed to convert on. 

Nine minutes in, Patrick Fellows (Mississauga, Ont.) drew a Tomas Soustal tripping call, giving the Rams their first man-advantage. While they failed to capitalize, their pressure granted them a 21-14 shot advantage in what was previously a very tight game. 

After another successful penalty kill, the Rams headed into the third with their lone goal lead intact. 

Early in the third, Aiken foiled a rush by Santos with his glove. Later on, another dangerous shift by Barwell and Harland drew a hooking call, giving the Rams their second power play. 

Despite the man-advantage, a shorthanded rush forced Forrest to make a pad stop in the crease. Near the end of the power play, Walsh was also called upon to make a diving poke-check, ending another Thunderwolf threat. 

After holding the Rams to just three shots in the first 15 minutes of the third, Lakehead found their equalizer on a tip from Jordan Larson. On the face-off following the goal, Fellows was penalized off a scrum as tensions rose. However, just 30 seconds into Lakehead's man-advantage, Shankar was boarded by Geoff Dempster, evening things up. Despite three different Thunderwolves in the box at one point, all penalties concluded with the score knotted at one.  After a grueling last minute of regulation, the game went to overtime. 

Ryerson began the extra frame on another power play thanks to a too-many-men call with just ten seconds left in the third. However, the special teams were left goal-less once more. Neither team could light the lamp on the power play tonight, with Ryerson going 0-for-4 and Lakehead at 0-for-3.

About eleven minutes into overtime, a seemingly innocent rush by Shankar drew three Thunderwolves to the left side of the zone. His weak shot reached Aiken, forcing the netminder to make a pad stop. Paliani was left alone in the slot, caressing the puck before burying it on his forehand. 

The ensuing celebration carried the entire Rams bench across the ice before a group hug behind their goal line. 

"I think Shanks (Shankar) made a good play," said Paliani post-game. "I tried to catch him (Aiken) off guard, I got lucky there." 

Forrest allowed just two goals this series over 130 minutes of hockey. "I felt pretty good this whole game and this whole series," an evidently winded Forrest acknowledged the intensity of tonight's match. "We got the job done. It was fun for the crowd, but maybe not so fun for us," said the netminder with a chuckle. 

Meanwhile, head coach Johnny Duco commented on the physical side of tonight's win. "We're not going to take undisciplined penalties and we're going to keep our cool regardless of what the other team's doing."

While neither team could convert on the man-advantage, Ryerson collected only 10 penalty minutes compared to Lakehead's 22. 

The Rams have earned a rest and will face a new challenger in the divisional semifinals starting Wednesday, February 19th.