Box Score The Waterloo Warriors got some late-game heroics to nab one point on Friday night, but the Ryerson Rams got a big goal from their biggest weapon to skate away with two points and a win.
Matt Mistele scored his second goal of the game in overtime, lifting the visiting Rams to a 3-2 win over the Warriors at the Columbia Ice Field arena.
The loss spoiled a two-goal performance by Warriors rookie forward
Keigan Goetz (New Hamburg/), including a game-tying marker with the extra attacker on at 18:11 of the third period. Goetz now leads the OUA west division in goals with 7 through the first 7 games of his USports career.
The loss, Waterloo's second straight in extra time, drops the Warriors to 3-2-2 on the season. Meanwhile, the Rams improved to 5-2-0, much thanks to the performance of goaltender Taylor Dupuis – the Ryerson keeper turned aside 35 shots in the win. Warriors veteran
Mike Morrison (Hamilton/) was nearly as good, making 30 saves in defeat.
The first period ended scoreless, but the hosts were not without their chances to open the scoring in the first 20 minutes – the Rams were guilty of a plethora of defensive zone turnovers, but Dupuis was there to bail them out.
The flow of play was much more even in the second period, and the Rams forecheck finally generated there game's first marker at the 15:14 mark of the middle stanza: Marcus Hinds came up with a turnover behind the Waterloo net, and fed Mistele in the slot for a wrister past Morrison, and a 1-0 Ryerson lead.
The Rams doubled their advantage less than two minutes later, when Branden Hughes – in his USports debut – picked the pocket of Warriors captain
Mike Moffat (Waterloo/), and came in alone on Morrison. Hughes finished with a gorgeous move to the backhand for a highlight-reel first-career-goal, and a 2-0 lead.
But just 8 seconds later, off the ensuing draw,
Markson Bechtold (Strathmore/) gained the zone and feathered a beautiful pass to a streaking Goetz, who deflected it past Dupuis to make it 2-1 after 40 minutes.
Dupuis and the Rams held the Warriors at bay for much of the third, but with a faceoff in the Ryerson zone and 1:54 retaining on the clock, Waterloo head coaches
Brian Bourque called a timeout to draw up his faceoff play. He also pulled Morrison – earlier than would most coaches, down just a goal – and the gamble paid immediate dividends. Bechtold, with the help of Perigo, won the draw back to Moffat, who paused to let traffic develop in front before firing a wrister on goal. Dupuis was able to stop the initial shot, but it deflected right off the body of Goetz and in, knotting the score at 2-2.
But the celebration was ruined in the 3-on-3 overtime session, when Mistele grabbed the puck at his own blue line and broke down on a 2-on-1 rush with rookie Cavin Leth. The former OHL sniper Mistele kept all the way, and zipped the wrister past Morrison to give the Rams a 3-2 decision.
The Warriors will now turn their attention to the defending Queen's Cup champions, as they travel to face the 6-1-0 York Lions – ranked 5th in the nation – on Saturday night. Puck drop from North York is slated for 7pm.
