TORONTO, Ont. - The Laurier Golden Hawks dropped the first game of the OUA West Semifinal to the TMU Bold on Wednesday night, 4-1.
Things started great for the Golden Hawks as Bryce Kilbourne let go a long shot that squeaked past TMU's Kai Edmonds to give the Laurier the lead early in the first period. Patrick Brown had the helper.
As the first period progressed, the momentum began to shift in favour of the Bold and they were able to tie the game at 16:54 in the first period.
Shots in the first period were 8-6 in favour of the Bold.
No goals would be scored in the second, but TMU put the pressure on and hemmed the Golden Hawks in their own zone for most of the period.
Laurier netminder Christian Propp stopped a whopping 24 shots in the second frame alone, while the purple and gold only managed to get four shots on Edmonds.
TMU's late signing and Arizona Coyotes prospect Artyom Duda scored on the power play just 25 seconds into the third period to give the Bold their first lead of the game.
TMU extended their lead to 3-1 when Kyle Bollers scored on a wrap-around attempt with 4:29 remaining in the third period. Bollers scored his second of the night on the empty net to secure a 4-1 win for the TMU Bold in the first game of the second round.
PLUS/MINUS
Minus - Shots Shots Shots
Over 60 minutes Laurier only managed to pick up 12 shots for, half of which happened in the first period. The Golden Hawks only managed to pick up 2 shots in the final frame. It is tough to win games when pucks don't get on net.
Plus + Propp
Christian Propp was the reason the Golden Hawks stayed close for so long. He made some unreal stops Wednesday night to keep Laurier within striking distance. Throughout the second period, you could see TMU's frustration growing because they just could not solve Propp.
Propp's final stats on the night? 40 saves on 43 shots against for a save percentage of 0.930%.
UP NEXT
The Golden Hawks return to Waterloo for a must-win Game 2 on Friday. If they lose, their season is over.
Though back home in Waterloo, Laurier will host the Bold at the Pillars Ice Haus in RIM Park instead of Sun Life Financial Arena. If the Golden Hawks come out on top and force Game 3, they will return to Toronto on Sunday evening.
The puckdrop for Friday's Game 2 is at 7 p.m. Tickets are now available online. You can also catch all the action live on OUA.tv and RadioLaurier.com.
