TORONTO — After the Rams men's hockey team bested the Western Mustangs in double-overtime on Wednesday night, it would be fair to assume that the team's second round matchup against the Waterloo Warriors would be less thrilling by default. But, as fate would have it, the Rams beat the Warriors 4-3 in overtime to advance to the OUA semi-finals, a result that was just as exhilarating as the game that came before it.
During the game's first two minutes, Waterloo iced the puck twice, leading the way for an offensive opening for the Rams. Still, Garrett Forrest's acrobatics couldn't stop the relentless Warriors, who opened the scoring eight minutes in on a Tate Popple one-timer that found the back of the net. True to form, the Rams answered swiftly and impressively thanks to the silky handiwork of Kevin Gursoy, who deked around Waterloo goaltender Dan Murphy and went to his backhand to bury the equalizer.
"With a little bit of a depleted roster, you could see that they wanted to be tight defensively and not give too much up," Rams head coach Johnny Duco said of Waterloo's defensive strategies early.
In the second period, an early power play appeared to propel the Rams to a 2-1 lead, but a scrambling goal was called off by the referees, who contended that Murphy had covered the puck before it crossed the goal line. Later in the frame, the Warriors took the lead on a Dan Walker one-timer that came on a four-minute power play. To their credit, the Rams had several top-notch scoring chances in the latter half of the middle period, but gave up another power play goal to Waterloo's Connor Lovie, who beat Forrest to give his team a two-goal lead.
After the intermission, the blue and gold continued to throw pucks at the net, dominating the first half of the third period and hemming the Warriors into their own zone on multiple occasions. When it appeared as though they would simply fade into the night, the Rams got their second goal when Kyle Bollers sniped a shot past a shell-shocked Murphy for his first of the postseason.
With three and a half minutes remaining, Chris Playfair played the hero, beating Murphy after a quick rush to tie the game and send the Rams fans in attendance at the Mattamy Athletic Centre into a frenzy. Playfair, who has been one of the Rams' most consistent forwards all season long, had nothing but kind words for his teammates, none of whom quit when the going got tough.
"I think in the back of our heads, we knew we were going to come back," Playfair noted with a smile. "That's just kinda ingrained in us now where we know that, no matter what happens, we stick together."
"I think once you tie it up, you feel pretty good about your chances," Duco added. "It just felt like it was a matter of time."
In the overtime period, the Warriors came out strong, but were no match for the hyperactive but disciplined Rams. Just over five minutes into the overtime period, Joe Rupoli took a slick pass from Michael Cramarossa and wired it past Murphy, who hung his head in dismay. For Rupoli, his goal was the culmination of a game-long effort to get pucks on net and make their chances count.
"Throughout the game, we were putting a lot of shots on net, and we were doing the right things," Rupoli remarked. "It all kinda came together in the third period."
The Rams will take on the Brock Badgers in the OUA semi-finals on Wednesday, March 23 at the Mattamy Athletic Centre. The puck drops at 6 p.m.
