TROIS RIVIERES, Que. – The UOIT men's hockey team has lost back-to-back conference games for the first time this season after falling 5-1 to the UQTR Patriotes on Saturday.

UQTR's Pierre-Maxime Poudrier opened the scoring midway through the first period, but Danny Elser (Hopewell Junction, N.Y.) tied the game with his seventh goal of the season 5:34 into the second.
 
Elser's power play marker was assisted by Malik Johnson (Montreal, Que.) and Ben Blasko (Kingston, Ont.).
 
Through two periods UOIT had more opportunities, outshooting UQTR 24-18, but in the third the Patriotes took over.
 
Just 17 seconds into the third Tommy Giroux gave UQTR a 2-1 lead. At the one-minute mark Guillaume Asselin pushed the Patriotes lead to two.
 
UOIT was unable to rebound from the deficit as Asselin scored an empty-net goal with 28 seconds to go in the game. Olivier Caouette picked up UQTR's fifth goal with just nine seconds on the clock.
 
Brendan O'Neill (Ilderton, Ont.) made 25 saves in the Ridgebacks loss, while Sebastien Auger turned aside 29 UOIT shots.
 
The Ridgebacks will now host the McGill Redmen at home on Friday, Nov. 25. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. at the Campus Ice Centre.
 
QUICK LOOK AT THE RIDGEBACKS
Overall Record: 12-6-2
Conference Record: 10-4-0
 
Next game: Friday, Nov. 25 vs. McGill Redmen (7:30 PM – Campus Ice Centre)