LIONS DOMINATE BROCK, CLINCH SIXTH IN OUA WEST

From the opening faceoff to the final buzzer, the York University Lions men's hockey team put together a strong and consistent effort in securing their position for the playoffs with a decisive 6-3 triumph over the Brock Badgers on Thursday (Feb. 11) at Canlan Ice Sports York Arena.

York (12-12-3) moved the puck well, cleared rebounds from in front of their own net and dictated the pace of the game through 60 minutes against the normally stingy Badgers (9-17-1).

"We finally broke out of our funk," said head coach Jim Wells, as the Lions snapped a four-game winless skid that included OT losses to Laurier and Waterloo. "We made our own breaks tonight."

On a night where York honoured six of its graduating players, one of those athletes - Matt Restoule (Val Caron, Ont.) - scored a pair of goals to finish the Badgers off. Restoule's first goal, the fifth of the night for the Lions, was a thing of beauty, as he shot from his knees at the hash marks off a centering pass from Jesse Grespan (Toronto, Ont.) to make it 5-2. His second goal was an empty netter with 48 seconds remaining.

The Lions were truly firing on all cylinders, as they rifled home two goals in each period and spread the scoring across their three offensive lines.

It took a while for the Lions to get on the board, but they wasted no time on their first power play of the night. Matt Thomson (Kitchener, Ont.) completed a nice passing play with a point shot that found its way through traffic and past goaltender Jordan Bent to give the Lions a 1-0 lead at 14:49 of the first.

Brock got on the board at 16:57 on a goal by Steve Mullin.

With 10 seconds remaining in the period, defenceman Brett Short (Sherwood Park, Alta.) picked up a dump in at the half-boards of the Brock zone and threw the puck on net. The puck somehow founds its way through Bent and York went to the dressing room with a 2-1 lead.

Chris Jones (Grafton, Ont.) put a sniper shot through two Badger defencemen just 49 seconds into the second, and the rout was on. Brock drew close once more on a goal by Kyle McNeil through a screen, but it would not be enough.

Cassidy Preston (North Bay, Ont.) had the eventual game-winner in the second after Grespan forced a defensive turnover by the Badgers and fed Preston at the corner of the net. Preston also picked up assists on both of Restoule's goals.

Brock scored on the power play at 11:23 to get close enough to pull their goalie with 1:30 remaining.

York did a fine job of staying out of the box, recording only three minor penalties and killing two of them, while going one-for-four on the power play.

While veterans like Grespan and Restoule had two-point nights, the rookie Lions were just as impressive. The first-year forward trio of Jesse Messier (Keswick, Ont.), Matthew Martello (Maple, Ont.) and JK Gill (Brampton, Ont.) saw lots of ice time and served as the second power play unit. Messier and Martello assisted on the Lions' first two goals, and Gill was a physical presence all night.

"They're very exciting players," said Wells after the game. "They're all ex-OHL players. They know how to play, they like each other and they find each other constantly."

David Davenport (Bradford, Ont.) stopped 35 shots for the win. Bent made 31 saves for the Badgers.

The final game of the regular season will go Saturday (Feb. 11) at Canlan, as the Lions face the fifth-place Guelph Gryphons. Both teams are cemented in their positions for the playoffs, which begin next week. Faceoff is at 7pm.

By Josh Elliott, sport information assistant