TORONTO, Ont. - The Golden Hawks opened their regular season in dramatic fashion on Thursday night, edging out last year's OUA finalists, the Toronto Metropolitan University Bold, 4–2 at the Mattamy Athletic Centre in Toronto.
Coming off a five-win season, which was their lowest total since the 1979-80 season, Laurier had a lot to prove coming into this game.
The first period saw limited scoring chances being generated by the Golden Hawks, which was a major problem for the team last year, but, thankfully, second-year goaltender Tristan Malbouef was on his game and kept the team in the game, only allowing one goal from Carter MacAdams to sneak past him on 19 total shots as his teammates heated up.
The scoring opened early in the second when
Bryce Sutherland struck with a power play goal assisted by
Lucas Chard and
Thomas Lenart, tying the game at one.
Just past the midway point of the hockey game,
Lucas Chard added his own tally to give the Golden Hawks their first lead.
Joseph Ianniello answered for TMU with just 1:08 left in the frame to tie the game heading to the third.
Laurier slammed the door shut just 24 seconds in that final period when Sutherland struck again. This time, with assists from
Max-Antoine Melancon and
Ty Petrou.
Less than three minutes later,
Kallaway Mercer delivered the dagger with helpers from
Luke Della Croce and
Ryan Schaap, securing the Golden Hawks' two-goal win.
For Malboeuf, it was his second career OUA game with at least 40 saves, having stopped 41 of 43 shots on the night.
Laurier's manager of men's hockey operations and head coach
Kevin Forrest had nothing but positive things to say about the game, crediting Callum Chisolm on defence and Sutherland on offense for "positive energy that was contagious up and down the bench".
Up Next
Laurier hits the road for Toronto again to face off against the University of Toronto Varsity Blues on Saturday night. Puck drop is set for 7:00 pm at the Varsity Centre in Toronto.
Follow the action on X at @WLUAthletics or live on OUA.tv
