Goaltender Mario Cavaliere made 27 saves to backstop the Brock men's hockey team to their first win of the OUA regular season on Thursday.
The Badgers defeated the Toronto Varsity Blues 5-1 at Seymour-Hannah Arena.
Christian Girhiny scored his first OUA goal and chipped in an assist. Mitchell Mendonca, Tyler Rollo, Jordan Sambrook and Kosta Likourezos each scored a goal for the Badgers.
The Badgers dropped their home opener to the Windsor Lancers on Oct. 4 and have experienced a rocky pre-season, so this victory meant a lot to head coach Marty Williamson's team.
"This is a growing period. We've gone through an awful lot between injuries, guys playing lacrosse and guys we thought were going to be here and weren't, so there's been a lot of distractions," said Williamson. "I haven't seen a comfort within our play until now and I thought that we played very comfortable in that third period. I thought that was the way our team can play. We have the ability to lock down teams and take opportunities while being patient."
Mendonca, a freshman forward, struck early in the first as he darted to the net to convert a feed from Brayden Stortz and Cole Thiessen. In a blink of an eye, Mendonca slipped behind the Blues' defence for a lightning-quick goal at 4:21.
The Thorold native has two goals in two games.
"When Mitchell has the puck he's done some real good things for us, and finished. He's scored some real good goals, so we're happy to see a guy who is hot for us right now," said Williamson. "But he's a guy who is a work in progress. We got to get him a little better away from the puck."
Rollo increased Brock's lead by driving to the net and sweeping the puck around an outstretched Toronto goaltender, Alex Bishop.
Despite a 2-0 lead after the first, Williamson said it was one of their worst periods he's seen his team play as Toronto outshot Brock 14-7.
"We started to get to our game in the second and third periods," he said. "The first was indicative of what we've seen early in the season where we try to make too much happen. Everybody wants to make a big play for me and I don't need that. If I can get a bunch of good players playing a simple game then we got a good hockey team."
The Badgers proceeded to outshoot Toronto 25-14 the rest of the way as Cavaliere locked down the net.
Ryan Burton tallied two assists while Rollo, Girhiny, Jared Marino and Connor Walters each notched a helper.
For Toronto, Brendan Bornstein scored immediately off an offensive zone faceoff in the second.
Up next, the Badgers (1-1) host the York Lions (0-1) in the second leg of a back-to-back set on Friday, Oct. 11 at 7:15 p.m. Tickets can be purchased here.
