The Ryerson men’s hockey team lost game one of the OUA West semi-final playoffs 7-0 to the Lakehead Thunderwolves Wednesday night at the Mattamy Athletic Centre.
Cody Alcock scored four goals and both Carson Dubchak and Mike Hammond added a goal and an assist for Lakehead, who are a win away from eliminating the Rams from the post-season.
“I think they had the 7-1 game when we beat them [on Jan. 18] in the back of their minds,” said Rams head coach Graham Wise. “And they came in here, they worked hard, they were hungry and they wanted it.”
The Rams outshot Lakehead 45-36 but were heavily outchanced in scoring opportunities. Alcock got the scoring started by finishing off a Mike Hammond cross-crease pass on the powerplay midway through the first period, before tallying his second goal less than four minutes later.
Lakehead then broke the game open late in the second on Mike Hammond’s shorthanded goal with just over five minutes left in the frame. This was followed by two more quick goals in the final minutes of the second period.
Ryerson limited Lakehead’s powerplay to an efficiency of just 1 for 6, but could not take advantage of six powerplay opportunities themselves.
Lakehead was the faster team on the puck pursuit and capitalized on several Ryerson turnovers, including an errand pass by defenceman Brian Birkhoff in the third period.
Rams starter Troy Passingham was chased from the net after two periods, allowing five goals on 25 shots. Lakehead’s Jeff Bosch went the distance for a 45-save shutout.
The Rams will now head to the Fort William Gardens in Thunder Bay for game two on Friday, trailing 1-0 in the best-of-three series. If necessary, game three will also be played in Thunder Bay on Saturday.
Harlan is in the final year of the Bachelor of Journalism program at Ryerson University (2014).