WATERLOO, Ont. - The Laurier Golden Hawks stayed alive for another day, defeating the Brock Badgers 4-1  on Saturday night to force a game three in the first round of the Queens Cup playoffs. 

The Golden Hawk offence exploded for four goals after an extremely quiet game one. The win also marked the first time Laurier has defeated Brock since 2017 and interim manager of men's hockey operations and head coach Kevin Forrest's first win against his former squad. 

"I don't think about how good it feels to beat them, because it is a weird feeling. I recruited a lot of those guys and went to war with them," said Forrest. "But after a game like tonight, I'm just thinking about how good it feels for our guys to get a win after playing so well and so hard."

The Golden Hawks were all over the Badgers early and Laurier's physicality from game one continued, stunting the Badgers' offence. 

No goals were scored in the first and each team took a try on the powerplay but neither team could put the puck past Brock's Roman Basran or Laurier's Christian Propp; who stopped 11 shots and 7 shots respectively. 

Propp made a monster glove save on Tyler Burnie to keep the Brock Badgers off the board early in the second period. 

??MHOCK P2 - ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED??

Golden Hawks | 0@brockbadgers | 0#WLUvsBRO #SoarAbove pic.twitter.com/llbGqksFtj

— Laurier Golden Hawks (@WLUAthletics) February 19, 2023

The Badger's however, eventually found their way past Propp halfway through the second and opened the scoring as Christian Girhiny sent a pass out front to Cameron Gaylor, who tipped the puck past Propp for his first of the playoffs. 

Laurier forward Nick Giunta put the puck over a sprawling Basran to knot the game back up at one only a minute later. The goal is Giunta's first career OUA playoff goal.

Senior Caleb Rich scored the go-ahead goal for the purple and gold for minutes into the third period during a scramble out front and gave Laurier their first lead of the playoffs. 

Rookie Matthew Zebedee beat his man to the net and banged home a rebound to give the insurance marker four and a half minutes later. 

Sullivan Sparkes put the icing on the cake as he put the puck into Brock's empty net for Laurier's fourth and final goal of the night. 

"It was probably our most complete game of the season, it's the right time of year to be playing like that. We just have to head to Brock and finish the job tomorrow," said Rich. 

Forrest had similar things to say about the game, "it might have been our best sixty minutes of hockey all season. We were locked in all over the ice, defence, offence, neutral zone, everywhere. That's what it takes to win to beat a top team like Brock. The boys get to go to bed feeling good and then it will be back to business tomorrow."


Plus + Caleb Rich

After battling through some inconsistency throughout the season, Rich has found his stride recently and has become a key goal scorer for the Golden Hawks. The senior now has four goals in his last four games. 

"Rich has got a heck of a shot and a great finish, he has brought his play up a notch as of recent and he's made a big difference for us," said Forrest. 


Plus + Defense and Christian Propp

The defence and Propp were stellar in this one. Laurier's play in their end has been solid as they have only allowed the Badgers, who are known for their offence, to score three goals in two games. 

"That is a highly potent offence that Brock has over there," said Forrest. "But we did a heck of a job defending and when we got our chances we cashed out."

Propp put up 34 saves on 35 shots Saturday night. The busiest man in the OUA has faced 75 shots through two games and has a save percentage of .960.
 

The puck will drop for the deciding game 3 in their first-round series at 6 pm on Sunday in St. Catherines. Follow @WLUAthletics for updates or catch the action live on OUA.tv and RadioLaurier.com