Men's Hockey Ryerson vs. Brock October 9th/08

Ryerson Men's Varsity Hockey Vs. Brock

Despite a gritty performance from its penalty killers, the Ryerson Rams men's hockey team was shut out in its season opener, 3-0 by the Brock Badgers.

Although the Ryerson penalty-kill unit went a perfect seven-for-seven short-handed, the Rams' offense was unable to dig itself out from under 23 minutes in penalties and two short-handed goals against.

The Rams came out physical, punishing the Badgers with an aggressive fore-check that kept the 2007-08 OUA finalists hemmed in their own zone in the early going. But any rhythm the Rams established evaporated six minutes into the game, when Michael Paolo (Mississauga, Ont.) was assessed a five-minute major and game misconduct for hitting to the head.

While the Rams were able to kill off the penalty, which included a full two-minutes of five-on-three play, the parade of Ryerson players to the penalty box had begun. This steady flow of Rams to the sin bin would continue to disrupt any offensive pressure the team would generate throughout the game.

The Badgers also seemed to catch Ryerson flat-footed coming out of the first intermission. Isaac Smeltzer (Estevan, Sask) scored the first Brock goal, deflecting a shot past Ryerson goalie Paul Gibson just over a minute into the second period. After the Rams responded by drawing a pair of Badger penalties, Ryan Allen (Fort McMurray, Alta) took advantage of a Grant Buckley stumble to walk in alone on Gibson and put Brock up 2-0 with a short-handed tally.

While the Rams were able to generate six power play opportunities of their own, they never seemed to get their offense settled following Allen's short-handed marker. Another power-play turnover resulted in Nathan Hooper scoring Brock's third goal of the night with just over four minutes to go in the third period.

While the Rams were able to outshoot Brock 10-7 in the second period, they ultimately spent too much time in their own end, and were unable to generate sustained pressure on rookie Badger goaltender Kurt Jory (Brandon, MB). Although shots on goal were relatively close (23-21 in favour of Brock), Jory was there to make all 21 saves to earn his first career OUA shutout. Gibson was the lone bright spot for Ryerson, making 20 saves, while keeping his team in the game despite frequently being tested short-handed.

The Rams (0-1-0) will host the Guelph Gryphons (0-1-0) on Saturday at 2 p.m. at George Bell Arena, while the Badgers (1-0-0) visit Toronto (0-0-0).

Written By
Scott Nowoselski, Sports Information Assistant

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• Ryerson
• rams
• sports
• hockey
• OUA
• university

[theking688]

smeltzer wreckede that guy and hoopers goal was sick

[ZiiGgY15]

holy shit mikey, relaaaax lmaooo, u fukin killed tha guy hahahaa

[gimmicboy]

The Announcer mispronounced Paolo.