Badgers continue to excel as Lion tamers
Hard-fought win a solid starting point for Brock’s playoff quest
Brock feasted on home cooking when the men’s university hockey playoffs opened Wednesday night in St. Catharines.
Jared Marino and Tyler Rollo each scored a goal, and Logan Thompson made 33 saves backstopping the Badgers to a 2-1 win against York.
Game 2 in the best-of-three Ontario University Athletics (OUA) first-round series is Friday night in Toronto.
Brock would host the Lions
3:15 p.m. Sunday at SeymourHannah Sports and Entertainment Centre if a third game is necessary.
During the regular season, the Badgers went 19-5-4 and won all four games against York, who finished 12-14-2. But Brock knows better than to look past the Lions.
“This was a good start, but we need to play 60 minutes in York on Friday,” head coach Marty Williamson said in his post-game comments Wednesday.
“It was a hard-fought battle.” Marino opened the scoring 7:12 into the first period. York’s Justin Maiolino knotted the score midway into the middle frame, with Rollo rounding out the scoring in the game less than two minutes later.
York outshot Brock 34-30, and
‘‘ “The game came down to a crazy last minute, but the guys protected the house.”
MARTY WILLIAMSON Brock University men’s hockey head coach
neither team was able to generate any offence on the power play: Badgers, 0-for-2; Lions, 0-for-1.
“Good finish by them. We lost our man, and they made us pay,” Williamson said.
The Lions outshot their hosts 13-7 in the third period.
“The game came down to a crazy last minute, but the guys protected the house.”
Brock, second in the OUA West division to Ryerson (20-5-3), finished 16 points ahead of York in the standings.
Neither that number nor their success against York this season lulled the Badgers into feeling like invincible Lion tamers. York is two seasons removed from winning the OUA championship.
“They are a smart veteran team that is a well-coached group,” Williamson said. “They have a really good first line and a strong goalie.
Brock’s defence can’t afford to take a shift off against the Lions, Williamson warned.
“It’s important that we play a full 60 minutes of structured defence because they’re dangerous.”
Brock captain Brody Silk said before the series got underway that the Badgers need to “stay in the moment” if they hope to advance to the next round.
“We need to continue to do what made us so successful throughout the season,” he added.
“We are a team that is extremely well-coach, and if we stick to the game plan, we will have a great chance of repeating what we did last year.”
In 2017-18, in Williamson’s first season behind the bench, the Badgers went 14-9-5 in league play before going on a deep playoff run that included six more victories, as well as a berth in the national championship in Fredericton, N.B.
On the way to their first trip to nationals since 2008, and coach of the year honours for Williamson, the fifth-seeded Badgers upset No. 2-ranked York 2-1 in the OUA West final.