The Lakehead Thunderwolves were blanked by the Western Ontario Mustangs for the third time in just over a week after losing 4-0 to the Mustangs in London, Ontario on Saturday night.
After a scoreless first period, Dominic Desando put the Mustangs on the board when he beat Lakehead netminder Alex Dupuis at 7:46 of the second period. Western Ontario would add to its lead later in the period on a Zach Harden goal at 17:13, quickly followed by a Tyler Peters marker at 18:56 to give the Mustangs a 3-0 lead heading into the third.
Western Ontarios Harnden tallied his second goal of the game at 15:16 of the final frame to round out the scoring at 4-0 for the Mustangs. The Wolves were unable to solve Mustangs goalie Josh Unice once again, as his outstanding performance earned him his third straight shutout against Lakehead after blanking the Wolves back-to back in Thunder Bay last weekend.
Despite the loss, Thunderwolves Head Coach Joel Scherban was upbeat afterwards. The final score was not indicative of the play tonight, Scherban said. That may have been our best game of the year, and we probably deserved to win.
The win clinched first place in the OUA West Division and home ice advantage throughout the playoffs for the Mustangs. Lakehead is now tied for second place with Waterloo, but the Wolves hold a game in hand over the Warriors heading into the final two weeks of the regular season.
Lakehead will return to Southern Ontario next weekend to do it all over again, with a Friday night contest at Brock, followed by another trip to London to take on the Mustangs on Saturday.