By Jamie Tozer
- Rams extend winning streak to seven games
- Daniel Clairmont nets second career OUA hat trick
- Aaron Armstrong extends point streak to seven games, sits first in OUA points race
Ryerson’s men’s hockey team had little trouble extending their winning streak to seven games on Thursday night, cruising to a 7-2 victory over the visiting Lakehead Thunderwolves at the Mattamy Athletic Centre.
Daniel Clairmont recorded the second hat trick of his Ontario University Athletics (OUA) career—the other also coming against Lakehead back in January 2016—while Aaron Armstrong had four assists, extending his point streak to seven games and moving him into first place in the OUA’s overall points race with 37 on the year.
[ngg_images source=”galleries” container_ids=”318″ display_type=”photocrati-nextgen_basic_thumbnails” override_thumbnail_settings=”0″ thumbnail_width=”100″ thumbnail_height=”75″ thumbnail_crop=”1″ images_per_page=”20″ number_of_columns=”0″ ajax_pagination=”0″ show_all_in_lightbox=”0″ use_imagebrowser_effect=”0″ show_slideshow_link=”1″ slideshow_link_text=”[Show as slideshow]” order_by=”sortorder” order_direction=”ASC” returns=”included” maximum_entity_count=”500″]Devon Paliani, Chris Marchese, Matt Mistele and John Carpino all scored for the Rams, while Charlie Graham made 28 saves for the win.
Ryerson improves to 20-4-1, extending the Rams’ OUA West division lead to five points over the York Lions. Both teams have three regular season games remaining. Ryerson also moves two points clear of McGill for first overall in the league.
Clairmont opened the scoring at 4:57 of the opening frame, wiring a wrist shot past Lakehead goaltender Devin Green. After Paliani made it 2-0 at 11:48, Armstrong fed an open Marchese in front of the net just 17 seconds later to give the Rams a 3-0 lead.
Lakehead’s Sam Schutt scored with under 90 seconds to play in the first frame, the only blemish on an otherwise strong opening period for the Rams.
Ryerson wasted little time finding the back of the net in the second period. Josh Sterk made a terrific feed to Mistele to made it 4-1 less than two minutes in. Clairmont netted his second of the game at 5:28 and completed the hat trick just 25 seconds later, finishing off a cross-crease pass from Armstrong. Green was replaced by Justin McDonald in the second period after allowing six goals on 19 shots to earn the loss.
In the third, Carpino scored on a wraparound to give the Rams a 7-1 advantage. Schutt’s second of the night at 14:42 rounded out the scoring.
UP NEXT: The Rams are on the road this weekend after wrapping up a five-game homestand. Ryerson will face the Laurier Golden Hawks on Saturday, Feb. 4 at 7:30 p.m. before returning to the Mattamy Athletic Centre for their final home game of the regular season against Guelph on Tuesday, Feb. 7 at 7:15 p.m.
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