WATERLOO, Ont. - Despite building an early two-goal lead, Laurier gave up three unanswered and dropped the final installment of the Battle of Waterloo in the last minute of the game by a 3-2 score.
After going five straight games without giving up a goal, the Golden Hawks' penalty kill has surrendered three in two games, including two in Saturday's game.
Meanwhile, the powerplay has found a rhythm, going 1-for-3, with goals in two of the last three games, reversing a recent cold stretch for the unit.
The Warriors gifted Laurier with a powerplay eleven seconds into the game. Off the faceoff, the Golden Hawks worked it back to Adrian Nabuurs who sent it to Chase Herrfort across the point.
Then, Herrfort fired a puck when a streaking Grayden Gottschalk deflected the shot on its way to the net and past a screened goaltender who had no chance on the play. Gottschalk now has points in three straight games.
Using the momentum from the start of the game, both teams exchanged chances and saw time in each other's end. However, Laurier would capitalize again when Sullivan Sparkes picked up the puck along the boards, cut to the middle, beat the defender, and sniped it top corner for his second goal in as many games.
Unfortunately, Sparkes would get caught slashing in the latter half of the opening frame. At the beginning of the penalty kill, Waterloo stormed the net with a flurry of chances, but Propp was there to shut the door.
It wasn't enough though as the Warriors continued their onslaught and gassed the Laurier penalty killers, eventually capitalizing on the powerplay for the fourth straight game.
Waterloo outshot Laurier for the fourth consecutive period by a 14-12 margin in the first. Unfortunately, it wasn't much different in the second, as the shot clock gave the Warriors an 11-9 advantage.
Early in the middle frame, Laurier turned over the puck at their blueline, which Waterloo scooped up and took back to the house to tie the game at two.
Later in the period, the Golden Hawks got another powerplay but could not take advantage as they did in the first. After the early goal, both teams fought back and forth but could not extend the score either way.
The third period was close, as both teams locked it down defensively, while Laurier edged out the shot clock 7-6 for the first time in the weekend series. Then, one final powerplay was awarded to the Golden Hawks partway through the frame.
However, Laurier could not recreate the same magic from the beginning of the game and fell flat on the opportunity. Afterward, no team developed any grade-A chances until the Golden Hawks got caught for their second infraction.
Just as the teams look bound for extra time, Caleb Rich was called for interference with just over a minute remaining in the contest. On the ensuing powerplay, the Warriors made no mistake and completed the comeback to take the lead.
In a last-ditch effort to force overtime, the Golden Hawks immediately pulled their goalie for the extra attacker and called a timeout on the next whistle. However, it was too late and Waterloo walked away with the victory to finalize the season series at 4-1-0 for Laurier.
Players of the Game
Laurier
F Sullivan Sparkes
Sparkes scored in back-to-back games for the first time this season with a similar individual effort to give his team an early two-goal lead (3-3-6).
Waterloo
F Dan Walker (Sudbury, Ont.)
With two goals, including the game-winner, the rookie added to his team lead in points and tied for team-lead in goals (8-9-17) to deliver a comeback victory to end the season.
Next Up
The Golden Hawks will host the Brock Badgers on Wednesday in the opening round of the OUA Playoffs as both teams begin their journey for the 110th Queen's Cup. Brock finished third in the OUA West division with a record of 7-5-2 to secure the #5 seed.
Laurier will look to reverse the recent trend against the Badgers. In their previous ten match-ups, the Golden Hawks are 2-7-1 with a current seven-game losing streak.
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