TORONTO – The Ryerson Rams men's hockey team sent their 2,189 fans home happy on Thursday night, defeating the visiting Laurentian Voyageurs 10-3 in the Rams home opener at the Mattamy Athletic Centre.
Both Mitch Gallant (Charlottetown, PEI) and Kyle Blaney (Burlington, Ont.) netted hat-tricks to pace the Rams to the blowout victory.
Thursday marked the first time the Rams hit double digits on the score board in a regular season game since November 2, 1988 when Ryerson defeated RMC, 13-3.
BOXSCORE
Defenceman Stephen Midensky (Burlington, Ont.) opened the scoring for Ryerson with 7:40 left in the first period when he stepped out of the penalty box and was sprung on a breakaway on a feed from Blaney. Midensky made no mistake for his first OUA goal.
Before the period was done, Laurentian's Brandon Francisco picked the pocket of a Rams defender at the blueline and skated in for a backhand, breakaway goal to tie the game at 1-1 heading into the intermission.
The teams found their scoring flare in the second period as the goals piled on quickly. Rams defenceman Keevin Cutting (Bracebridge, Ont.) netted his first as a Ram to give Ryerson a 2-1 advantage.
Shortly after, Blaney scored his first of the night before Daniel Clairmont (Bracebridge, Ont.) scored his second of the season just over a minute later to extend Ryerson's lead to 4-1. Clairmont's goal chased Laurentian starting goaltender, Alain Valiquette, who was replaced by Charlie Millen.
Laurentian responded quickly as Nick Esposto deposited a rebound past the outstretched glove of Ryerson goalie Troy Passingham (Mississauga, Ont.) to cut the deficit back to two at 4-2.
With 12:16 remaining in the period, Gallant netted his first of three when he finished on a breakaway after receiving a stretch pass from defenceman Dean Willmott (Etobicoke, Ont.).
Play started to get physical as the second period wound down when Rams forward Jason Kelly (Toronto) lay a hit that cost him the rest of the game and drew a scrum in the corner. The physical play carried over into the third period as emotions began to run high.
Six minutes into the third period, Laurentian's Nicolas Dionne banged home a rebound to narrow the deficit to just two at 5-3 but the Rams responded with two quick goals from Gallant to put this one out of reach.
Gallant's second goal came on the powerplay when he tipped in a point shot from the blueline and he finished the hat-trick just moments later when he benefitted from a pass from Andreas Tsogkas (Scarborough, Ont.) for the open net tap in.
Sophomore Domenic Alberga (Maple, Ont.) netted his first of the season before Blaney rounded out the scoring with his second and third goals.
“I don't think it was a 10-3 game. Laurentian is a much-improved team from last year…and they were here to spoil our party. Things went our way because we worked hard and got our game under control,” said head coach Graham Wise following the game.
Rams goalie Troy Passingham made 34 saves for the victory. Valiquette had 18 saves on 22 shots before being pulled after 24 minutes. In relief, Millen made 17 saves on 23 shots.
Ryerson moves to 2-0-0 on the season while Laurentian falls to 2-1-0. The Rams are back on the ice on Friday evening when they host the Nipissing Lakers who are 0-1-1 to start the season. Puck drop is set for 7:30 p.m.
