Introduction:
On Friday night (Jan. 6th) the Windsor Lancer men's hockey team took a 4-3 loss against the Waterloo Warriors at the Columbia Ice Field Arena to start the 2023 portion of the season.
 
Stats:
Mason Kohn led the blue and gold offensively with 2 goals and 1 assist while on the defensive side, goalie Nathan Torchia made 24 saves out of 28 shots on net.
 
Game Flow:
Coming out onto the ice, the Lancers and Warriors were both determined to gain early control of the game. As the Lancers worked their way into the Waterloo zone, Sean Olson and Alex Gritz got tied up along the blue paint and battled for possession. After the Warriors' forward, Liam Fedak got called for boarding, the Lancers earned the powerplay for a scoring opportunity. Just 2 minutes later, Sean Olson was able to get by Waterloo's goalie, Dan Murphy, to give the blue and gold a 1-0 lead. The Warriors gained some momentum while trying to create scoring chances for the remainder of the period; however, the Lancers would lead 1-0 into the first intermission.
The second period saw the blue and gold return to the ice with high energy as they looked to extend their lead against the Warriors. About 3 minutes into the period, Mason Kohn scored Windsor's second goal of the night to make it a 2-0 game. As tensions arose, the two teams battled on the ice, blasting shots from both sides. The Warriors' Dan Walker was able to quickly respond with a goal of his own past Windsor's goaltender, Nathan Torchia, to minimize Waterloo's deficit to one. Two minutes later, the black and gold scored their second goal of the night with a shot by Chase Campbell to equalize the game 2-2. Eager to regain the lead, Mason Kohn jumped out again to regain the Lancers' lead momentarily. The period came to an end with the Lancers and Warriors tied 3-3.
After the second intermission, Windsor and Waterloo continued to search for a breakthrough after a thrilling second period. The Warrior's forward Brendan Bowie found the net to give the host's their first lead of the game, 4-3. As the Lancers had penalty troubles throughout the period, the blue and gold ultimately fell 4-3.
The Windsor Lancers will look to bounce back on when they once again take on the Waterloo Warriors for a rematch at Columbia Ice Field Arena on Saturday night. The puck drop is set for 7:00 pm and the game can be seen live on OUA.tv.