WATERLOO, Ont - After splitting their first road trip of the season, with a win and loss in Kingston, the Golden Hawks returned home for the first Battle of Waterloo match-up on Thursday night. Although Laurier fought to the end, an off-night defensively led to a 6-5 overtime loss to the Warriors.
Laurier came out strong in the first, pressuring Waterloo's net early.
An untimely penalty charged to Laurier's Tyler Hunt led to Nate Bierd scoring quickly on the ensuing power-play off a smooth pass.
The Golden Hawks responded just over two minutes later, with Callum Chisolm striking back.
With less than four minutes remaining in the opening frame, Laurier assistant captain Bryce Killbourne found the back of the net off a draw to give Laurier its first lead at 2-1 heading into the second.
The physicality between rivals quickly escalated, setting up a fast-paced 4-on-4 situation to start the second frame.
Seven minutes in, Waterloo tied it up at two apiece with a well-placed goal from Cole Fraser.
With Laurier's defensive struggles, the Warriors gained opportunities to exploit open spaces.
Despite that, Laurier rookie Brenden Anderson capitalized on a powerplay sequence, putting Laurier back on top 3-2 with his first OUA goal.
 Waterloo's Jesse Fishman quickly answered with another goal and, just over a minute later, Jack Phibbs made it 4-3 on a power play advantage that Laurier's goalie
Ventsislav Shingarov couldn't stop.
Tristan Malbeouf took over for Shingarov in the third to keep the game alive and wake up the Golden Hawks but was scored on just 25 seconds into the frame making it 5-3 for Waterloo.
Some key players for Laurier stepped up after a sloppy second period in hopes of a win. Assistant captain Sam Rhodes was one of them.
Rhodes gifted his team a beautiful top-corner goal to make it a one-goal game just over halfway through the period.
With 2:40 left on the clock, Waterloo took a penalty to give Laurier a chance at tying up the game on the odd-man advantage.
With the help of Thomas Lenart and Isaac Sooklal, Rhodes found the back of the net to tie the game 5-5 with 1:25 left.
An ill-timed misconduct for Lenart set up the Warriors for a man-advantage heading into overtime.
Laurier fought in the extra frame, battling shorthanded to generate a couple of chances in the offensive zone.
The night was finally brought to an end when Waterloo's Sam McKinney broke through their defensive line one last time with five minutes gone to take the game for the Warriors.
The Golden Hawks are now even to start the season, with a 2-2-2 record that manager of men's hockey operations and head coach Kevin Forrest is optimistic about.
"We had a few of our veteran players out at the beginning of the season that are back now but still shaking off some rust. Getting them back into things will be a big difference for us going forward".
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Game Notes
Although Laurier's defence has been keeping things close while their scoring unit struggled to generate chances, last night was an off game for them.
Goalie Ventsislav Shingarov also seemed off-kilter, giving Waterloo a few opportunities they wouldn't have on a normal day of Shingarov.
Up Next
The Golden Hawks have a weekend off before heading to Quebec next weekend for a challenging weekend against UQTR and McGill.
Puck drop is at 7:00 pm on November 1 against UQTR, follow the action on X (formerly Twitter) at @WLUAthletics or live on OUA.tv.
