Waterloo’s men’s hockey team played the Laurier Hawks Jan. 3, their first game of 2015. After a five-week break, both skated onto the ice and into disjointed play. The Hawks outshot the Warriors in the first period 10–6, but Warrior Chris Chappell, assisted by Matt Amadio and Kain Allicock, scored the first goal nearly 19 minutes after game start.
Laurier was quick to retaliate in the second period. Due to crossed wires between goalie Mike Morrison and defenceman Jeff Einhorn, Kyle Morrison tapped in the puck for an empty-net goal at 11 seconds into play. Almost two minutes later, the Hawks scored again, tipping the game in Laurier’s favour at 2–1. Thanks to a lucky bounce, Warrior Colin Behenna then tied the game at 13:49 minutes into the second.
At 15:38 minutes into the third period, Hawk Matt Provost was penalized for hooking. On the subsequent power play, Behenna scored again some 20 seconds later with a smooth top-right corner shot. Waterloo would continue to lead 3–2 into the final period.
The third period followed a similar pattern to the second with Laurier scoring twice in a row, first by Matt Dupont and then by Zach Lorentz. The Hawks would take their second lead in the game with a score of 4–3.
With their winning streak in jeopardy, Allicock tied the game once again with a shot off the post. With two minutes remaining and both teams tired, Chappell won a clean faceoff, passed the puck to Brett Mackie who in turn passed it to Stephen Silas. Silas slapped the puck at the goal, it first appeared to have been stopped, but it slid just over the line for a final score of 5–4 Waterloo.
The men’s hockey team will continue to fight for their winning streak against McGill on Jan. 10.
