TORONTO - The Ryerson Rams lost their home opener to the Queen's Gaels 5-3 at the Mattamy Athletic Centre, in front of their biggest, and most raucous, crowd to date.

The game was won and lost on a few key defensive breakdowns as the Rams (1-2-0) gave up too many two-on-ones, neutralizing their 48-27 shot advantage.

"We doubled them in shots and couldn't find a way to put the puck in the net," captain Andrew Buck said. "A lot of guys are pretty disappointed in there right now, it was awesome having a big crowd and we wanted to put on a good show."

Queen's jumped out to an early lead, as Andrew Wiebe opened the scoring 90 seconds into the game. The puck took a bounce off the end glass and redirected to Wiebe, who swatted the puck past Troy Passingham.

It was the first time, but not the last, that the puck didn't bounce in favour of the Rams, who found iron on at least three occasions.

Queen's extended their lead to two goals after a Corey Bureau tally. Matt McCann got Ryerson on the board as he tipped home a Mark Corbett point-shot, but the Gaels answered back 25 seconds later to go up 3-1.

"When you skate in sand for the first period and get behind the eight ball, then you have to battle back, it's not very good," Wise said.

Backup goaltender Steve Gleeson relieved Passingham in the second period, after Passingham allowed three goals on 14 shots.  Gleeson stopped 11 of 12 in the final two frames.

The Gaels scored the lone goal of the second period, when Patrick McGillis put his team up 4-1.

Dustin Alcock injected some life into the Rams with a beautiful shorthanded snipe to start the third period. A reinvigorated Rams team peppered Riley Whitlock until Mark Corbett scored a power-play goal at the 9:19 mark. The Gaels iced the game with an empty-netter.

"I think we could have pulled it out if we had started better," Alcock said. "But if you outshoot a team 48-27, you have to start putting the puck in the back of the net."

Prior to the game, Ryerson honoured the 1962-63 Rams hockey team with a ceremony commemorating the teams' undefeated, championship season. The 1963 provincial champions were welcomed to the Rams Hall of Fame in September.

The Rams hit the ice tomorrow night when they host the RMC Paladins at General Motors Centre in Oshawa. The venue for the game was changed to accommodate an exhibition game between the Ryerson mens basketball team and the Wake Forest Demon Deacons. Puck drop is 7:00 p.m.