Lombardi’s four goals leads Rams over Ravens

TORONTO – There’s something special that happens when Daniel Lombardi (Richmond Hill, Ont.) takes the ice at the Mattamy Athletic Centre at the Gardens against the Carleton Ravens.

On Dec. 1, 2012, Lombardi scored the overtime winner against Carleton to give Ryerson a 3-2 victory heading into the holidays.

Saturday afternoon was much the same dramatics, just a lot more goals.

A four-goal performance by Lombardi was the difference as Ryerson defeated Carleton heavily, 9-5. Lombardi also added two assists and finished with six points.

“That is (a career high), and I’ve never had a hat-trick either in a game so it was something special and I played in the OHL for five years and never had a hat-trick so it’s something to remember,” said Lombardi, who entered the game with six points which has since doubled.

BOXSCORE

Coming off a seven-goal performance the night before, Ryerson was still feeling it offensively, scoring just 1:17 into the match with Victor Terreri (Mississauga, Ont.) scoring his third of the season.

Peter Hermenegildo (Thornhill, Ont.) scored seven minutes later with his fifth of the season. Hermenegildo added two assists on the night and his 13 points has him in third place in the CIS in defenceman scoring.

After Lombardi got his first of the evening on the powerplay, it was Carleton who dominated the play. Scoring with less than a second left in the first period off a Matthew Stanisz shot from the point, Joe Pleckaitis tipped it in and Carleton had the momentum going into the intermission.

Two straight goals within two minutes by Carleton starting just five minutes into the second period had Ryerson scrambling and forcing Rams assistant coach Johnny Duco to call a timeout.

“We just wanted to settle everyone down and remind them of the fact that we needed to be solid defensively and we have enough skill that the offence will take care of itself if we take care of our own end,” said Duco.

The timeout seemed to work as Lombardi scored his second of the afternoon a few minutes later on the powerplay. After a Carleton goal to even the score at four, it was goals galore with Ryerson scoring three unanswered and four total in the final frame.

With 16 goals scored in two games after not playing for two weeks and sitting in second in the CIS with 4.88 goals per game, what is it with the offence for the Rams?

“I just think our lines are meshing together, with have good chemistry with some of the guys and some of the lines that we’ve put together so hopefully we can continue that throughout the season,” said Lombardi.

Adam Courchaine (Kanata, Ont.) recorded his fifth win of the season making 35 saves. Matthew Dopud started the game for Carleton and suffered the loss. Dopud was pulled after the third Ryerson goal in favour of backup Ryan Dube but returned to the game after Ryerson’s sixth goal.

NOTES

–  With the win, Ryerson improves to 7-4 on the season, just four points behind first-place  Lakehead who has a 9-1 record.

–  Graham Wise will return to the team on Monday. Duco said with the return of the bench boss, not much will be different. “We’ll be business as usual. We’ll get right back into the swing of things and we’ll be real happy and excited to get him back.”

–  After a two game home stand, Ryerson will hit the road in northern Ontario taking on the Laurentian Voyageurs and Nipissing Lakers on Friday and Saturday respectively. Game time on Friday, Nov. 22 in Sudbury, Ont. is set for 7:30 p.m.