Ryan Burton scored twice and registered two assists as the Brock Badgers held on to defeat the York Lions 5-3 to open the OUA men's hockey season at Seymour-Hannah Arena on Friday.

Brock built a 3-1 lead in the first on goals by Cosimo Fontana, Frankie Pucci and Burton, yet the Lions worked their way back onto the scoreboard by controlling the puck and dominating zone time in the Badgers' end.

"I thought we had a very poor second period. When you start playing in your own zone too long you start chasing the game. We turned the puck over a ton, and that was just a nightmare," said head coach Marty Williamson. "Our work ethic is real good, but we have to work smart. That's the growing process this team is going to have."

Daniel Nikandrov found the back of the net for the Lions just two minutes into the middle frame.

In the third, Nik Coric converted a feed from Josh LaFrance as York crashed the net to bring the game within a goal.

Badgers netminder Logan Thompson made a lot of game-changing saves to stave off broken plays and random scoring chances.

"I thought our goaltender was outstanding and the goals we gave up were painful to watch, because of the amount of mistakes that we made," said Williamson. "You can't blame Logan on any of those."

Brandon O'Quinn potted an empty netter, and York outshot Brock 32-24.

Up next, the Badgers (1-0) travel to Waterloo to battle the Laurier Golden Hawks (0-2) on Saturday, Oct. 13 at 7:07 p.m.