Lions men’s hockey team to battle Hawks for first place standings, Friday night

The York University Lions and Laurier Golden Hawks men’s hockey teams both have their sights sets on first place in the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) West standings, and will go head-to-head on Friday, Dec. 1 at Canlan Ice Sports.

The game will take place at 7pm, and is also available for viewing on OUA.tv.

Laurier was responsible for York’s first loss of the season earlier this year, defeating the Lions 6-2 in early November on their home ice. The two teams split their season series last year, with the game ending in a 4-3 score each time and the home team winning each game. Prior to the Lions’ win over the Golden Hawks last season, Laurier had won seven straight matchups between the two squads.

This year, the matchup looks like this: York (10-4-1) vs. Laurier (9-3-2).

Last weekend in the nation’s capital, the Lions scraped out three of a possible four points. They erased a 2-0 deficit against Carleton in a 3-2 shootout victory, and then came back from a 3-0 deficit to Ottawa in an eventual 4-3 shootout loss to the Gee-Gees.

The Lions had a tough November after a 6-0 start in October, suffering losses to Laurier, Guelph and Waterloo. They also earned wins over Waterloo, Western and Lakehead in recent weeks.

The Lions rank eighth in the OUA defensively with 2.68 goals allowed per game, and are 12th in scoring with 3.07 goals scored per game.

The Lions will wrap up the 2017 portion of their schedule on Saturday night against last year’s OUA West Division winners, the Ryerson Rams, at Mattamy Athletic Centre. They will return to action after the break on Jan. 5 against the Brock Badgers at Canlan Ice Sports.