The No. 4 Lakehead Thunderwolves and the Regina Cougars played to a hard-fought 3-3 draw Saturday night at the Fort William Gardens in Thunder Bay. Lakehead had won in O/T on Friday night by a 4-3 score. But this game was a different one. Friday the Wolves had outplayed theCougars and Regina had relied on theirnetminder Rob Muntain to keep them in the game. Tonight, theCougars came to play. The Thunderwolves were led by their Captain Joel Scherban, who notched two goals while Jeff Richards added two assists. Lee Shaefer led the Cougars with a goal and an assist.
The first period was the best of the four played between the teams so far, with hard-hitting action, good scoring chances, and great goaltending. Both teams also seemed to have more spring in their skates than Friday night's game. The Thunderwolves came out hard in the first, acting with sense of purpose. Lakehead's Shawn Perring had two good chances early on; both handled nicely by Regina goaltender Rob Muntain. Thunderwolves Captain Joel Scherban had a good shorthanded chance at 3:20, but Muntain was up to the task. Regina's Jaymon Hill then had a good opportunity in front of the Lakehead goal, but netminder Grant McCune made a big sliding save. The Cougars then started to lay the body on and pressure Lakehead in their own end. McCune then made a great save off the Cougars Chris Frohlick who was parked all alone in front of the Lakehead goal. McCune then robbed Derek Fox who broke in alone and fired a backhander. Regina's Muntain then made a great stop off Lakehead's Craig Priestlay at 9:20 as Priestlay broke in all alone on a breakaway but couldn't beat Muntain with a hard wrist shot.
Lakehead then went on a 5-on-3 powerplay and buzzed the Cougars goal but Regina killed the penalties off successfully. Muntain then made an incredible glove save off Lakehead's Chris Shaffer at the 16:00 mark, when Shaffer was sprung loose for a breakaway by a great lead pass by Joel Scherban. Lakehead then went on the powerplay at the end of the period and Muntain was again sharp; stopping Scherban on two opportunities. Regina drew another minor and Lakehead again went on the 5-on-3 advantage. This time Scherban made no mistake at 18:09, when he blasted in a beautiful pass in front of the net from Jeff Richards. The other assist went to Mike Jacobsen. Jason Lange gave the Thunderwolves their second powerplay marker at 19:06, when he beat Muntain with a hard slapshot from the right circle, set up by Erik Lodge. Lodge then hooked down Chris Frohlick who broke free on a shorthanded breakaway to end the period. Lakehead outshot Regina 22-6 in the first.
Regina's Lee Schaefer got the Cougars on the board early in the second at 1:33 on the powerplay, assisted by Donnie Kinney and Ryan Pollock. The Thunderwolves then went on the powerplay but couldn't develop any scoring chances. Regina's Derek Fox then had a good chance from the left side of the Lakehead net, but McCune bodied the hard wrist shot. Lakehead's Jeff Richards then used his speed to break by the Regina d-man Cory Stephen and backhand a shot at Muntain, which the Cougars goalie stopped. Richards was cross-checked down hard by Stephen and crashed heavily into Muntain who was injured in the play and had to be taken to the Cougars dressing room. Goaltender Shaun Lee then went into the Cougars goal to replace the injured Muntain.
The Thunderwolves didn't give the new goaltender a break as Joel Scherban executed a beautiful give and go with Chris Shaffer parked at the side of the Regina net and Scherban made it 3-1 Lakehead at 8:10 on the powerplay. The other assist went to Jeff Richards. Lee then made a good save off Lakehead's Mike Wehrsted, who was then crunched hard by Regina's Fox after the shot. The Cougars struck back at 11:36 when Jaymon Hill was set up beautifully in front of the Lakehead net by Pat Baum. The other assist went to Chris Frohlick. The g