The Lakehead Thunderwolves dominated the Laurentian Voyageurs 7-1 at the Countryside Arena in Sudbury, Ontario on Thursday night.
Freshman Paul Thompson opened the scoring for the Thunderwolves with the only goal of the first period after being set up by Ryan Magill and Mike Quesnele at the 17:10 mark. Lakehead outshot Laurentian 12-10 in the opening 20 minutes.
Early in the second period, Magill made it 2-0 for the Wolves on an unassisted marker that eluded Voyageurs goaltender Alex Laino at the 2:15 mark. That was the only scoring in the middle frame, one in which Lakehead outshot Laurentian 10-7.
The Wolves broke the game wide open in the third period, beginning with a Kelin Ainsworth marker assisted by Mike Hammond and Jake Carrick just 41 seconds in the final stanza. Thompson notched his second goal of the game at 5:49 to extend Lakeheads lead to 4-0, with assists credited to Riley McIntosh and Matt Kaarela. Hammond and Andrew Wilkins set up Nathan Bruyere for a power play goal at 8:02, and then Carrick scored on a feed from Hammond at 10:11 to give the Wolves a 6-0 lead.
Quesnele widened the gap to 7-0 with an unassisted goal at 18:24, but Laurentians Marc-Alain Begin spoiled Lakehead netminder Justin McDonalds shutout bid with only 1:19 left on the clock to round out the scoring.
Shots on goal favored Lakehead 15-9 in the third period and 37-26 on the game.
The win improves Lakeheads OUA record to 6-1, and puts the Wolves in a first-place tie with Windsor in the West Division.
The two teams will take to the ice again on Friday night with the opening face-off set for 8:30.