Led by freshman Mike Hammonds 5-point performance, the Lakehead Thunderwolves rebounded to dominate the UQTR Patriotes 5-1 Saturday night at the Fort William Gardens in Thunder Bay, Ontario.
Lakehead came out and played a smart but gritty game to get things started in the first period, highlighted by some huge hits by Andrew Wilkins, just as he did in Fridays game. The Thunderwolves were determined to play a more disciplined game, and they held their composure very well up until Matt Caria was slew-footed by the UQTR bench. The incident started a brawl and a lengthy delay by the referees as they sorted out the mess. Lakehead capitalized on the Patriotes as soon as the puck dropped when Hammond pounced on a loose puck and fed a behind the back pass to Adam Sergerie, who tapped the puck into the wide-open cage putting Lakehead up 1-0 at 10:58 of the first. Freshman goaltender Jeff Bosch, making his CIS debut, made some big saves to keep Lakehead in front.
Lakehead kept their foot on the gas to start the second period, laying the body early and often. The energy paid off as the Thunderwolves spent the majority of the time early in the period in the Patriotes end. Hammond found a streaking Ryan Magill, who put the puck past Guillaume Nadeau at 5:19 of the period, putting Lakehead up 2-0.
Jeff Bosch continued his strong play, making a couple of key saves to keep the Wolves in front by two. He couldnt stop everything though, as Patriotes forward Tommy Tremblay was credited with a goal after a scramble in front of the net that found its way past Bosch. Less than a minute later, Hammond scored his first goal as a Thunderwolf, and his third point of the night on a beautiful unassisted marker at 16:47 that restored Lakeheads two-goal lead.
The Thunderwolves came out in the third period and played a safe, defensive game. Jeff Bosch stood tall in goal, and made some timely saves. Hammond scored his second goal of the game at 8:16 of the third on a nice feed from Matt Caria to put Lakehead up 4-1. Hammond completed his hat-trick on a breakaway with 45 seconds left in the game to cement the victory.
The Molson 3 stars of the game were:
1.Mike Hammond, Lakehead
2.Jeff Bosch, Lakehead
3.Ryan Magill, Lakehead
Lakehead is on the road next weekend to take on Michigan Tech and the University of Minnesota-Duluth.