WATERLOO, Ont. — In their season's first installment of the Battle of Waterloo, the Golden Hawks clawed back from an early two-goal deficit to edge the rival Waterloo Warriors 3-2 on Saturday afternoon in OUA men's hockey action.
After falling behind 2-0 midway through the first period, Laurier (9-3-0-0) began its rally on a power-play late in the frame when defenceman Ryan Pryce buried his first goal of the season at 17:13, with assists from Travis Verbeek and Tyler Hunt.
The Golden Hawks evened things up in the second as Kallaway Mercer (2) scored at 7:02, with Callum Chisholm and Luke Della Croce drawing assists.
Laurier carried the momentum into the final period, where Ty Petrou netted the go-ahead goal at 9:23, set up by Max-Antoine Melançon and Nolan Bettens.
His first career OUA tally held-up as the game-winner as Laurier snapped a four-game head-to-head losing streak against the Warriors.Â
Cole Fraser and Jaden Goldie supplied the goals for Waterloo (5-6-0), both coming in the opening frame. From that point though, Laurier first-year goaltender Andrew Ness, making his second straight start from the purple and gold, shut the door making 24 saves on 26 shots.Â
The win gives Ness five on the season while lowering his goals against average to a conference-leading 1.67. His .949 save percentage also sits atop the OUA goaltending leaderboard.Â
Laurier, winners of three in a row, return to action next weekend with a trip up the 401 to visit the York Lions on Saturday, November 15.
Puck drop at Canlan Ice Sports is scheduled for 7pm and can be streamed live on OUA.tv
