ST. CATHARINES, Ont. - In their final game of the calendar year, the Rams men's hockey team came away with a thrilling 3-2 overtime win in St. Catharines against the Brock Badgers. With the victory, the Rams sit in second place of the OUA West division behind the Badgers, who are just a single point ahead of them. 

Under five minutes into the first period, the Badgers took an early lead thanks to the surging Owen Guy, who strode down the right wing and wired a shot past Rams goaltender Lucas Peressini for his fourth goal of the season. Minutes later, the Rams tied it up when Jacob Kamps perfectly tipped a Gregory DiTomaso shot from the point that beat Brock netminder Mario Culina. For Kamps, it was his second goal in as many games and third of the season. 

Like their previous game against the Toronto Varsity Blues, the Rams jumped ahead in shots on goal, trampling the Badgers 21-6 in that department by the time the puck dropped to open the second period. Despite their abundance of solid chances, it was Brock who scored first in the middle frame, with captain Jared Marino taking a stealthy feed from Frankie Pucci on a 2-on-1 to give his squad the lead. Both teams traded chances in the latter half of the second frame, but neither pushed a goal across in the period's final minutes.

In the third period, the Rams spent ample time in Brock's zone, and finally broke through with 10 minutes remaining when Kyle Bollers notched his sixth goal of the season on a beautiful tip in front of Culina. With five minutes left in the final frame, Kamps was called for a tripping penalty, which gave the Badgers a stressful yet fruitless power play.  

After the concluding minutes of the third period frittered away without a decisive goal, the Rams came flying out of the gate in overtime, with Bollers hitting the crossbar from a sharp angle to kickstart the tense extra period. A minute later, David Miller was tripped on a near-breakaway, leading to the team's first power play of the game. During the ensuing man advantage, it was none other than Bollers who rifled a shot over Culina's left shoulder to give his team the victory. In the end, Bollers' seventh goal of his exceptional rookie season (and his second of the game) proved crucial to a stunning Rams victory against a team they needed to beat going into the winter break. 

The Rams' first game of 2022 takes place on Friday, January 7 at 6 p.m. when the Lakehead Thunderwolves come to the Mattamy Athletic Centre for a two-game series that will mark the final meetings between the two teams.