The No. 10 Lakehead Thunderwolves mens hockey team fell 3-2 in OT to the No. 3 Laurier Golden Hawks Saturday night in Waterloo to even their OUA West best-of-three semi-final playoff series at one game apiece.
The Wolves now have a 3-1 playoff record, an overall OUA record of 21-9-1-1 (18-8-1-1 regular season) and 27-12-1-1 overall. Laurier goes to 1-1 in the playoffs and 23-5-1-1 in overall OUA play.
Lakeheads scoring came from Shandor Alphonso and Brock McPherson while Lauriers goals came from Ryan Bernardi,Jean-Michel Rizk, and the OT game winner from Craig Voakes. Rizks goal was a shorthanded highlight reel beauty.
Lakehead outshot Laurier 37-35 in the closely contested and even game. Lakehead netminder Chris Whitley took his first loss of the playoffs to go against 3 wins while Laurier goalie Jeff MacDougald evened his playoff record at 1-1.
Lakehead was 1-7 on the powerplay while Laurier was 1-8.
The deciding Game 3 is set for Sunday at the Sunlife Financial Arena in Waterloo at 7:30 pm EST and can be heard live on Rock94 FM Radio in Thunder Bay and online at www.rock94.com with Bryan Wyatt calling the action live.
Laurier Athletics will be videowebcasting Sundays deciding game free at http://www.laurierathletics.com/live/
Game Summary:
Lakehead 2 at Laurier 3 (OT)
Feb 28, 2009 Sun Life Arena, Waterloo Recreation Complex
Scoring:
Lakehead 1 0 1 0 - 2
Laurier 0 2 0 1 - 3
1st Period-
1, Lakehead, Alphonso 1 (Kivell, Alphonso), 14:31.
Penalties-Sagert Lkhd (interference), 5:00; Townsend Wlu (boarding), 10:14; Voakes Wlu (hooking), 12:24; Hogg Lkhd (high sticking), 19:22.
2nd Period-
2, Laurier, Bernardi 1 (Peacock, Townsend), 18:26 (pp).
3, Laurier, Rizk 2 19:32 (sh).
Penalties-Girard Wlu (interference), 3:53; Zulyniak Lkhd (tripping), 4:57; Smith Lkhd (cross checking), 6:24; Alphonso Lkhd (charging), 9:59; Alphonso Lkhd (interference), 16:53; Alphonso Lkhd (10-minute misconduct), 16:53; Williams Wlu (tripping), 19:03; Voakes Wlu (hooking), 19:46.
3rd Period-
4, Lakehead, McPherson 5 (Soares, Dobben), 0:43 (pp).
Penalties-Maccarone Wlu (elbowing), 8:39; Soares Lkhd (high sticking), 10:31; Girard Wlu (boarding), 12:11; Brown Lkhd (hooking), 17:23.
OT Period-
5, Laurier, Voakes 1 (Bellows, Vergeer), 0:27.
Penalties-No Penalties
Shots on Goal-
Lakehead 11-9-16-1-37.
Laurier 9-12-12-2-35.
Power-play opportunities-
Lakehead 1 of 7
Laurier 1 of 8.
Goalies-
Lakehead, Whitley 3-1-0-0 (35 shots-32 saves).
Laurier, MacDougald 1-0-1-0 (37 shots-35 saves).