The No. 4 Lakehead Thunderwolves defeated the Windsor Lancers 5-2 at the Fort William Gardens in Thunder Bay Friday night. The Thunderwolves were again led by their star rookie forward Jeff Richards who scored two goals and added two assists. Richards has 9 goals and 4 assists in his last 3 games. Richard's linemates Bryan Duce and Joel Scherban also led the way with Duce notching a goal and three assists and Scherban recording a goal and two assists. Colin Shaw notched his first goal of the season for Lakehead.
Richards leads rookie scorers in the OUA with 22 goals and 36 points. He and BryanDuce are tied for fourth in OUA scoring with 36while Joel Scherban is tied for fifth with 35.
Windsor netminder Derrek Laporte had a strong game, making a lot of good stops while turning aside 35 of 40 Lakehead shots. Mike York and Eric Gawant scored for the Lancers.
The victory lifts Lakehead's OUA record to 17-6 (22-10-2 overall), while Windsor's conference record is8-14-1 and 9-19-1 overall. The game had a strange feel as both teams seemed to be feeling each other out tonight and seemed a little tentative at times. This could be due to the fact that this two game series in Thunder Bay mean little in the standings as both teams know they face each otherin next week's OUA Far West Divisional Semi-finals which begin in Windsor on Wednesday.
The first period was very slow with both teams a littlecautious, although Lakehead had a definite edge in play and scoring opportunities. Laporte made a string of nice saves including a lovely screened glove save off a blistering shot by Lakehead's Mike Jacobsen. Lakehead outshot Windsor 14-3 in the first.
The action picked up in the second with both teams opening up the play. Windsor's Eric Gawant gave the Lancers the 1-0 lead at 5:37 when he knocked in a rebound on the powerplay. Laporte again made some big saves, including a great reactive save off a tipped shot from the point by Lakehead's Craig Priestlay. The Thunderwolves tied it at 11:40 when Richards roofed it over a sprawled Laporte. The powerplay goal was set up by great passes from Scherban and Duce. Richards gave Lakehead the lead at 17:43. Duce fed him a beautiful pass while he was cutting to the net and he quickly tucked the puck under Laporte. Windsor's Mike York tied the scored at 19:06, set up from a great pass from behind the net by Jason Melo. Lakehead outshot Windsor 11-10 in the second.
Lakehead came out strong in the third forcing Laporte to be sharp early. First, he robbed Lakehead's Aaron Piccinin on a breakaway at the 47 second mark, then he followed up with another great save off Jason Lange also on the breakaway 35 seconds later. Colin Shaw finally put the puck past the battling Windsor netminder when he notched his first of the season at 2:09 to give the Thunderwolves the 3-2 lead. Lakehead goaltender Grant McCune made a great reaction toe save to rob Windsor's Ty Magotiaux at the 5:20 mark. Bryan Duce made it 4-2 Lakehead with the goal of the game at 8:01. Richards fed him a pass and Duce cut in on Laporte and dropped him with a quick fake, then went around the downed goaltender and put it in the empty net. Scherban completed the scoring at 16:02 when he banged in a pass from Duce. Richards set up the play by carrying the puck into the Windsor end with a Lancer defender draped all over him and managing to make a one handed pass to Duce while being hauled down.
Lakehead Head Coach Pete Belliveau said his team played well enough to win but wanted a stronger effort in tomorrow's game. "We weren't very consistent tonight and we didn't take advantage of a lot of our opportunities. Their goaltender played a strong game. Our first line of Richards, Scherban, and Duce were great and we got a good effort from our fourth line as well. We just have to work hard tomorrow, give it 100%, and build a good feeling f