It was a rockem, sockem, night at the Fort William Gardens in Thunder Bay as the No. 3 Lakehead Thunderwolves fell to the Michigan Tech Huskies by a 7-2 score Friday night before 2951 fans. The game had 219 minutes of penalties, a record for a game involving the Thunderwolves. Lakehead's scoring came from Mike Wehrstedt and Francis Walker. Ryan Markham paced the Huskies with a goal and two assists while Chris Conner added two goals and Colin Murphy two assists. Shots were 40-16 for Michigan Tech in the game. The win puts Lakehead's overall mark at 16-5-1-1 while Michigan Tech's overall record goes to 3-14-1. Tech went 3 for 8 on the powerplay while Lakehead was 0 for 9.
Lakehead jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period but penalties and lack of players proved their undoing as the speedy Huskies rattled off seven unanswered goals for the win. The Thunderwolves were playing without six of their starters who were away in Woodstock, Ontario at the OUA All-Star tryout camp.
Lakehead was in trouble early as Tech star Chris Conner was awarded a penalty shot 1:22 but Lakehead rookie netminder Chris Whitley came up with a big stop to rob Conner. Lakehead then went on the powerplay and Francis Walker had two great chances but couldn't beat Tech goalie Cam Ellsworth. Lakehead then put on the pressure but couldn't get a good shot on goal. The Huskies were called for another minor but couldn't generate any offense. Lakehead's Mike Wehrstedt came cloase at 8:45 when he fired point blank at Ellsworth but the goaltender came up big. Tech broke down on a 4 on 2, but the shot by the trailer was handled by Whitley.
Lakehead then roared back up the ice and Francis Walker converted a lovely three way passing play when he banged it in from the left side at 9:57, with the assists going to Andrew Brown and Steve Rawski. Lakehead's Mike Wehrstedt then was fed a nice pass at center from Jesse Baraniuk and blasted a shot that Ellsworth kicked out but Wehrstedt banged in his own rebound at 11:21. Michigan Tech stormed right back when Chris Conner snapped a quick shot that beat Whitley over the right shoulder at 12:05. The Huskies then went on the powerplay with 5 minutes left and the Lakehead defense let Nick Anderson walk in alone and beat Whitley with a low snap shot from the slot at 15:40. Assists went to Colin Murphy. Things turned ugly soon after as a brawl broke out in the Lakehead end at 16:15 resulting in a spate of misconducts to both sides and the Thunderwolves Dene Poulin being ejected for hitting from behind and Lakehead a man down but the Wolves killed off the minor nicely. Tech made it 3-2 at 18:53 on a great individual effort by Tyler Skworchinski, who fought through a check to beat Whitley high glove side. Assists went to Anderson and Ryan Markham. Shots in the first were 12-5 for Michigan Tech.
The second period featured some fast action and more penalties through the first 10 minutes. The Huskies had some chances but Whitley shut the door. A wicked blind side, outside the play, hit by Tech's Mike Batovanja put Lakehead's Drew Kivell out of the game and Batovanja was ejected from the game for the charge. The penalties continued to both sides. Whitley made a great save off Tech's Conner after Conner made an incredible move to go by the Wolves' d-man and break in on the Lakehead goaltender. Lakehead then put on some pressure as Chris Shaffer broke through two Tech dmen and was stopped by Ellsworth. Lakehead's Francis Walker then had two good shots that were handled by Ellsworth. Tech then came close a couple times but Whitley stopped them. Whitley then made a blunder as he roamed far out of the goal to pick up the loose puck and passed to his dman at the Lakehead blue line but the puck was intercepted by Ryan Markham coming out of the penalty box and he