Ottawa goaltender Mathieu Blanchard was the story of the second game of the Bell Varsity Cup Day 1 as the Ottawa Gee Gees defeated the No. 3 Lakehead Thunderwolves by a 3-1 score. Blanchard turned away 46 Lakehead shots on the night as the Thunderwolves outshot the Gee Gees 47-28. Ottawa got its scoring from Ben McLeod, Samuel Seguin, and Billy Triantafilos. Mike Wehrstedt replied for the Thunderwolves. Defensive miscues proved costly for Lakehead; resulting in all three Ottawa goals. Ottawa is now 8-6-2-1 overall while Lakehead is 16-7-1-1.
Lakehead put on the pressure early and fired a couple shots at Ottawa netminder Mathieu Blanchard. Ottawa's Samuel Seguin was then sprung for a breakaway but Lakehead goaltender Grant McCune made a great save. Ottawa's Blanchard then made a great save at the other end to rob Lakehead's Francis Walker. Lakehead kept up the pressure but Blanchard was sharp in the Ottawa goal. Ottawa went back up the ice and Ben McLeod fired a high wrist shot that beat McCune high glove side at 5:55, assisted by Paul Gauthier and Samuel Sequin. Ottawa kept up the pressure and were rewarded when a Lakehead defenseman passed it to Ottawa's McLeod at the side of the Lakehead net. McLeod centred it to Billy Triantafilos who knocked it in at 8:49. Lakehead's Chris Shaffer delivered a crunching open ice hit on Ottawa's Neil Frotten at 12:48. Ottawa's Samuel Seguin was floating at the Lakehead blue line behind the Thunderwolves' defense and was hit by a perfect feed by Paul Gauthier and Seguin slid it past McCune at 14:39. Lakehead's Austin Wycisk was set up in the slot with 1:50 left but Ottawa's Blanchard made a great stop. Lakehead's McCune suffered an injury at the end of the first and Chris Whitley replaced him in goal for the rest of the game. Lakehead outshot Ottawa 14-13 in the period.
The Thunderwolves came out fast again at the opening of the second and buzzed the Gee Gees goal. Lakehead's Shaffer came close when his shot deflected off Ottawa's Blanchard and trickled through the Gee Gees' crease. Lakehead kept up the pressure through the middle section of the period but Blanchard was a wall in the Ottawa goal. Blanchard made a great stop to rob Lakehead's Tobias Whelan at the 13:00 mark. The Gee Gees were called for a minor with 1:24 left and the Thunderwolves fired a series of shots at Blanchard but couldn't beat him. Lakehead dominated play in the second, outshooting Ottawa 16-4, but Gee Gee goalie Blanchard was the story of the period.
The third opened with Lakehead pressing but then they drew a minor. Lakehead's Mike Wehrstedt delivered two hard hits while killing the penalty. The Thunderwolves went on the powerplay and Mike Self fired a hard shot from the point that was gloved neatly by Blanchard. Blanchard followed with two fine saves off Lakehead's Erik Lodge and Murray Magill. After the minor expired, Lakehead kept on the pressure and were finally rewarded at 6:50 when Mike Wehrstedt converted a lovely three-way passing play from Austin Wycisk and Brad Priestlay. The goal energized the Wolves and they bombarded the Gee Gees goal with Blanchard making more excellent saves. However the momentum was stalled by a Lakehead penalty. The Wolves killed it off and went on the attack again with Ottawa trying to clear or looking to put a floater behind the Lakehead defense. Blanchard was a wall in the Ottawa goal. A minor skirmish broke out at 17:21. Lakehead drew two minors to Ottawa's one in the skirmish, putting the Thunderwolves down two men for most of the time remaining. Lakehead outshot Ottawa 17-11 in the third and 47-28 on the game.
The Molson Three Stars, as chosen by TBT and CKPR Sports Director Bryan Wyatt, were:
1)Ottawa: Mathieu Blanchard
2)Ottawa: Ben McLeod
3)Lakehead: Jeff Richards
First day attendance at the Bell Varsity Cup was 2227. Lakehead pl