The Laurier Golden Hawks got a big win last Friday, after dominating the Guelph Gryphons in a 5-1 win.  The Hawks beat the Gryphons on Friday, Oct. 14, and are 2-0 at home to start the season. However, their 0-2 road record has them at 2-2 overall.

A couple of Hawks had big nights, as both Matt Franczyk and Christian Mroczkowski had three assist nights, while Derek Schoenmakers scored two goals. Goaltender Christian Furlong stopped 31 of 32 shots in the win.

The game didn’t get off on the right foot for Laurier. Five minutes in Mark Raycroft gave Guelph a 1-0 lead. However, the Golden Hawks responded well, as just four minutes later, Neil Aird tied the game at 1-1, with assists from Mac Clutsam and Franczyk. Only three minutes after that, Trevor Sauder gave the Hawks a 2-1 lead, with assists from Alex Annecchiarico and Mroczkowski.

The second period was even better for the Golden Hawks, as Schoenmakers scored his first goal at the 11:47 mark, assisted by Mroczkowski and Franczyk, to improve on Laurier’s lead. The Gryphons thought that they were going to get out of the period with just that, but with only 48 seconds left in the period, Luke Hietkamp scored (assisted by Patrick Chore and Aird) to give the team a 4-1 lead, and more confidence going into the intermission.

The third period didn’t get much better for Guelph, as Schoenmakers scored his second, with assists from Mroczkowsk and Franczyk, to put the game out of reach with a 5-1 lead. Furlong stood on his head for the remainder of the period, as he stopped all 14 shots he faced to seal the deal for Laurier, giving them the 5-1 win.

This win came a week after their season opener in Toronto against the Ryerson Rams on Thursday, Oct. 6. The game saw the Rams take an early 2-0 lead. The Rams held this lead throughout the game as the Golden Hawks would go on to lose the game 6-3. Schoenmakers was impressive, scoring two of the team’s three goals, but it was no match for the three point efforts from Brandon Devlin and Jamie Lewis. Furlong stopped 30 of 35 in the loss.

The team won their home opener on Saturday, Oct. 8, as they beat the York Lions by a score of 4-3, a game which saw the Hawks take a 4-0 lead before nearly blowing it. Andrew Fritsch and Danny Hanlon were both impressive in the win, as both of them had three points in the game. Furlong was solid as well, stopping 38 of 41 shots for his first victory of the season.

On Saturday, Oct. 15, the team had a rematch with York in Toronto, in hopes of sweeping the season series. However, York gave the Hawks a taste of their own medicine, as the Hawks lost 4-3. Fritsch and Hanlon proved that they liked to play against the Lions, as they both had two points, including a pair of goals from Hanlon. Chris Festarini stopped 34 of 38 shots in his first start of the regular season.

A big upcoming event for the men’s team is the annual Homecoming game for the Wilfrid Laurier campus in Brantford. The game will be played at the Brantford Civic Centre on Saturday, Oct. 22 at 4 p.m. against the Waterloo Warriors.