This was the best game of CIS hockey played at the Fort William Gardens this year. It was a tough, nasty, exciting game, but also a game marked by some great offense and some stellar goaltending. The X-Men were lead by the great goaltending of Dwayne Bateman, the all-around offense of Patrick Grandmaitre, and two goals and an assist from Ryan Walsh. The Thunderwolves were lead by team Captain Joel Scherban, some massive bodychecks from Chris Shaffer, and some nice saves by Grant McCune.
The X-Men came out hitting in the first four minutes of the game and had the Thunderwolves back on their heels. But, then Lakehead's Chris Shaffer delivered a thunderous open ice body check at the five minute mark that seemed to inspire the Thunderwolves. From then on, it was one rocking game of hockey. It seemed that both teams thought they scored points by trying to drill their opponents through the boards. StFX finally opened the scoring at 11:17 when Patrick Grandmaitre blasted a shot from the point that beat Lakehead's McCune. The goal came on a 5 on 3 powerplay opportunity, with assists going to Omar Ennafatti and Ryan Walsh. Lakehead's McCune robbed StFX's Graham Power on a point blank blast at the 14:15 mark. The X-Men made it 2-0 at 17:04 when Walsh streaked down the left side and beat McCune low to the stick side on a hard wrist shot, assisted by Mike Martone. The Thunderwolves made it 2-1 at 19:15 on a powerplay goal from Joel Scherban, set up by a lovely cross-crease pass from Jeff Richards.
Lakehead came out flying in the second but X-Men goalkeeper Bateman kept the Thunderwolves at bay in the early going. Both teams were again hitting each other with abandon and Lakehead's Chris Shaffer again delivered some bruising hits. StFX made it 3-1 at 5:18 on a goal by Walsh, set up by a great pass from Grandmaitre. Lakehead's Mike Jacobsen made it 3-2 on the powerplay at 7:58 when he tipped in a shot from the point by Bryan Duce. The game turned from rough to downright nasty at the 8:51 mark. A Lakehead player was knocked into the X-Men goaltender and both went down, then Lakehead's Chris Shaffer pounced on the loose puck and lifted it over the downed goaltender for what seemed the tying goal. However, the goal was instantly disallowed, and a large melee ensued, which resulted in each team receiving four minor penalties and the X-Men's Enffatti getting a misconduct. StFX's Bateman made another incredible sliding save off Lakehead's Leon Cooper who broke in alone after being set up by a lovely pass from Murray Magill.
Lakehead again came out hard in the third and were rewarded when Chris Shaffer scored a crafty powerplay goal at 3:48, assisted by Jeff Adduono and Jason Lange. Shaffer took the pass behind the X-Men net, then swung around to the side of the net and banked the puck in off the back of goalkeeper Bateman's leg as he slid across the crease. The two teams were still skating and hitting hard. Lakehead's McCune made a great reaction save on a tipped shot from the point that changed direction quickly which McCune neatly gloved. StFX's Bateman made a great sliding save off Jeff Adduono at 7:20 and then robbed Jeff Richards who ripped a hard wrist shot at the 9:48 mark. It seemed that the game would be heading into overtime when Grandmaitre scored his second of the game at 17:24, assisted by Mike Martone. Lakehead pulled their goalkeeper with a minute left and pressed for the equalizer but Bateman would not be beaten again. The X-Men then cleared the puck down the ice to score an empty netter at 19:47 to seal the victory.
The Thunderwolves outshot the X-Men 31-25 in the game.
The Three Stars, as chosen by CKPR Sports Director Bryan Wyatt, were:
1) Dwayne Bateman StFX
2) Patrick Grandmaitre StFX
3) Chris Shaffer Lakehead
My Twolves Shoutouts go to Chris Shaffer who made (in my count) 5 crunching open ice body checks as well as numerous hits along the boards,<