Victor Anilane had his second straight two-goal game as the CIS seventh-ranked Lakehead Thunderwolves men's hockey team escaped with a narrow 4-3 victory over the CIS sixth-ranked Brock Badgers, Saturday night at the Fort William Gardens in Thunder Bay.
Mark Soares and Jordan Smith also scored for the Wolves while Brock's goals came courtesy of Dan Dooley, Derek Brochu and Gary Friesen. The night was a suspenseful one for the 3,100 fans in attendance as both teams had goals called back and the post came into play on several occasions.
With the win, the Thunderwolves improve to 7-0-1 with a 5-0-1 OUA record. They remain tied with the Laurier Golden Hawks for first place in the OUA West Division. Brock drops to 4-6-0 and 4-2-0 in OUA play.
Lakehead opened scoring at 10:50 in the first when Mark Soares banged the puck in from a few feet out on helpers from Scott Dobben and Victor Anilane. Soares' goal came just minutes after he ringed a slap shot of the left post.
Later, Dobben drew a red light from the goal judge, but refs called it back as it hit the right post before rebounding out.
Anilane scored his first of the night at 6:03 of the second period with a nice redirection.
The big Swede added his second of the night at 17:35 when he scooped up a botched clearing attempt and fired it into the left side of the net.
Twenty-two seconds later Dan Dooley put the Badgers on the board, assisted by Ryan Stephenson.
Brock drew closer at 1:06 of the third period when Derek Brochu scored following an ugly giveaway in the Lakehead end.
The Thunderwolves responded minutes later when Jordan Smith scored his first goal of the season, sniping a powerplay marker after pinching in from the point.
Brock closed the scoring with a powerplay goal of their own at 7:58 when Gary Friesen shot it past Lakehead goalie Kyle Moir.
Moir remains undefeated at 6-0-0 on the season after the win.
Lakehead's next tests will be October 30-31 as the team travels to Waterloo to take on the Warriors.