The Lakehead Thunderwolves lost 7-5 to the #1 ranked Alberta Golden Bears in front of 2735 fans in a thrilling game at the Fort William Gardens in Thunder Bay Friday night.
Alberta got on the board first on the power-play at 6:25 of the first period. With Lakehead freshman Paul Thompson in the box for interference, Alberta forward Johnny Lazo tipped home a shot from the point past Thunderwolves goaltender Justin McDonald.
Lakehead evened it up at 9:43 of the first on a nice shot from Kelin Ainsworth that up and over Alberta goalie Kurtis Mucha. Assists were credited to Jake Carrick and Mike Quesnele.
Andrew Wilkins increased the Wolves lead to 2-1 at 14:41 of the opening frame on a hard wrist shot. Assists went to Quesnele and Trevor Gamache.
Not long after, Carrick took a beautiful no-look pass from Mike Hammond and put it past Mucha to give Lakehead the 3-1 lead. The other assists went to Ainsworth.
With less that a second on the clock in the opening period, Alberta pulled to within one goal when a late breakdown by freshman defenceman Nathan Bruyere allowed Golden Bear forward Jamie Crooks to pick up a loose puck and put it past McDonald.
Just 20 seconds into the second period, Alberta tied it up 3-3 when Kruise Reddik fired a great pass to Levko Kopper who just had to tap it into the open net.
Lakehead pulled in front on a terrific individual effort from Trevor Gamache, who went inside-out on an Alberta defenseman and tucked the puck around Mucha to give the Wolves the 4-3 lead.
Keith Grondin gave the Thunderwolves a 5-3 advantage heading into the final stanza when he took a nice cross-ice feed from Ryan Magill and fired it past Mucha. Nathan Bruyere had the other assist.
Jordan Hickmott pulled Alberta to within one goal when he was left alone in front of the net and made no mistake putting it past McDonald just 59 seconds into the third period.
Hickmott struck again at 2:25 of the third to make it a 5-5 tie.
Jordan Rowley scored the go-ahead goal at 5:29 on a floater from the point that eluded McDonald.
Lakehead applied some furious pressure in the closing moments of the game, but were unable to put another one past Mucha. Hickmott completed his hat-trick late in the game with an empty-netter to seal the comeback win for Alberta.
The Molson 3 Stars of the game were:
1st Star Jordan Hickmott, Alberta
2nd Star Andrew Wilkins, Lakehead
3rd Star Kelin Ainsworth, Lakehead
Both teams are back in action on Saturday night at the Fort William Gardens with the opening face-off set for 7:30.