After five straight wins at home to start the season, the Lakehead Thunderwolves were blanked 4-0 by the Windsor Lancers in front of 1939 fans at the Fort William Gardens on Saturday night.
Jonathan Reinhart was outstanding in the Lancers’ goal, turning aside all 39 shots he faced.
Kyle Hope scored two goals less than three minutes apart to stake the Lancers to an early lead. He got his first just 4:59 into the game and his second came two minutes later on a one-timer from the point the sailed past Wolves’ goalie Devin Green, who stopped 35 of the 39 shots he faced in the game.
Lakehead freshman Tomas Soustal had a golden opportunity in the first when he broke in all alone, but Reinhart thwarted him with a brilliant pad save.
Windsor added two more in the second period. Brennan Feasey scored at 11:02 to put the Lancers up by three, and then after a Wolves’ giveaway in their own end of the rink, Ethan Skinner beat Green with a wrister from the high slot to put the Lancers up 4-0 after 40 minutes.
Lakehead dominated the play in the third period, but Reinhart stopped Daniel McKitrick cold on a great scoring chance and Daniel Del Paggio fired wide on a breakaway opportunity a few minutes later.
The Wolves kept the pressure on throughout the final stanza, but were unable to break the shutout.
For the night, Lakehead went 0-for-4 on the power play while Windsor was 0-for-2.
The Molson Three Stars of the game were:
1 Jonathan Reinhart, Windsor
2 Kyle Hope, Windsor
3 Ethan Skinner, Windsor
The Wolves will head to Montreal next weekend for a pair of games against the McGill Redmen.