The Windsor Lancer men's hockey team dropped a 6-1 decision to the Brock Badgers on Thursday night at the Capri Pizzeria Recreation Complex in what was Game 1 of the 2024 OUA West Quarterfinals playoff series in pursuit of the Queen's Cup.
With the loss the Lancers now trail the Badgers 1-0 in the best of three series which will move to St. Catharine's on Saturday February 24th.
STATS
Grant Spence scored the opening goal of the series while on the power play for Windsor but that would be the only Lancer tally on the night in the devastating home ice loss at the CPRC.
Nathan Torchia made 14 saves in the Game 1 loss for the blue and gold.
Brock was led by Jacob Roach who had an impressive 1 goal and 3 assist four-point night in helping to lead the Badgers past the Lancers in Game 1.
Brock's Cole Tymkin was also effective for the team that dawned the white jerseys with his 2-goal performance in helping to seal the deal for the visitors.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The first period would be the wildest period of the contest with six of the seven total goals in the game being scored during the first 20 minutes of the series.
Spence struck first for Windsor at 5:24 into the contest while the Lancers were on the power play to make it a 1-0 lead for the blue and gold.
Holden Wale and
David Jesus each picked up an assist on Spence's opening goal.
Less than a minute later at 6:13, Brock would respond with a marker of their own when Zach Taylor got his shot past Torchia to make it a 1-1 game.
It would not take long for the Badgers to establish their first lead of the game either when Ryan Stepien scored while on the power play at 9:29 to make it a 2-1 Brock lead on Windsor.
At 11:01 of the first frame, Jordan Stock would score for Brock to give the Badgers a controlling two-goal lead and make it a 3-1 score.
Following up on the Badgers extended lead streak was Tymkin who notched home his first goal of the evening at 13:36 to make it a 4-1 hockey game before netting his second of the night at 15:56 of the first period to produce a 5-1 lead over the hosts from Windsor.
A score of 5-1 in favour of Brock stood still on the scoreboard heading into the first intermission.
Coming out of the gate into the second period, Brock took advantage of being on the power play with a second power play marker in the contest this time scored by Roach who had picked up 3 helpers from a trio of the previous Badger goals to make it a 6-1 stranglehold on the Lancers.
The blue and gold would not be able to get back into the fold as they found themselves down by a mountainous lead that became too hard for them to climb as time winded down in the game.
The Badgers would depend on their defense and goaltender Connor Ungar to backstop them to a 6-1 victory over the Lancers and take a convincing 1-0 series lead back to the Niagara region.
UP NEXT
On Saturday the Lancers will face off against the Badgers while on the road for Game 2 of the series in St. Catharine's, ON at the Canada Games Park for a 4:00pm puck drop.
The action will be livestreamed on oua.tv and fans can follow the Windsor Lancers X account for live in-game updates throughout the game.
