Men remain atop Far West
Voakes shines as Laurier dominates Windsor, MacDougald picks up second shutout of the season
The Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks men's hockey team defeated the Windsor Lancers 8-0 Friday at the Waterloo Recreation Centre, after a 5-4 win over the Western Mustangs the night before.
The wins secured the Hawks' first-place position in the Western Conterence, giving them a 19-4-1 record.
"We lost a couple of games last week," said Head Coach Kelly Nobes. "We needed to focus on a more thorough defence.”
And that's exactly what the Hawks did allowing Windsor only 26 shots on net compared to the Hawks' 47.
Adam Maccarone, Garrett Sinield, Ryan Bernardi, Chad Kennedy and Phillip Magistrale secured a much stronger defence against the Lancers, with fourth-year goaltender Jeff MacDougald completing his second shutout of the season.
"We were really happy with our defensive play, said Nobes. "We gave up only one odd-man rush tonight.”
Brothers Mark and Craig Voakes scored the first two goals of the game, while leading scorer Jean-Michel Rizk and reigning CIS Rookie of the Year C. Voakes - third in goal-scoring on the team - both scored with the man advantage.
Jonathan Hunter soon replaced Jim Watt between the posts for the Lancers, but that didn't stop the Hawks.
Veteran Nick Vergeer and third-year Nathan Peacock both netted one each, and confusion in front of the net allowed fourth-year forward Luke Girard to sneak another in.
For the final goal of the game, Vergeer sent a beautiful cross-ice pass to C. Voakes, allowing him to complete the hat trick.
"Getting rewarded offensively was a great by-product of playing good defence," commented Nobes.
With just under ten seconds remaining until the final whistle, the Lancers provoked Hawks netminder MacDougald, initiating a disturbance between the two teams.
The commotion resulted in Windsor's Tyler McKinley shedding blood, while the Hawks skated away with an 8-0 final.
The Hawks take on the Lakehead Thunderwolves this weekend in a set of home games crucial to maintaining their position in the league.
The Thunderwolves are just five points shy of the Hawks, currently sitting in third place in a tight Far West division.
"We'll be ready to play our A game against [them]”, said Nobes. The puck drops Friday at the Rec Centre at 7:30 p.m., and then again Saturday at the same time.
