The No. 9 ranked Lakehead Thunderwolves got back to winning ways by defeating the Wilfred Laurier Golden Hawks 8-4 Friday night before 3490 noisy fans at Fort William Gardens in Thunder Bay. It was a strange game that saw the Thunderwolves dominate most of the play, and have many dangerous scoring chances, but the pesky Golden Hawks capitalized on their chances and stayed within striking range until near the end of the match. The win raises the Thunderwolves OUA record to 4-3-0, and puts the Golden Hawks at 3-3-0 in conference play.
The Thunderwolves came out fast in the first period and Lakehead's Bryan Duce opened the scoring on a powerplay goal at 2:20, assisted by Robert Hillier and Joel Scherban. The Thunderwolves peppered Hawk goaltender Ed VanHerpt, who came up with a lot of great stops in the early going. Lakehead Captain Joel Scherban scored another powerplay goal at 13:27 on a lovely goal from the side of the net, set up by Shawn Perring and Mike Jacobsen. Laurier got on the scoreboard at 18:57 on a goal by Chris Osborne, assisted by Ryan Crombeen and Nick Vukovic. Osborne tipped a blistering shot out of the air taken from the point by Crombeen and the puck went past Lakehead goaltender Grant McCune. Lakehead outshot Laurier 13-5 in the first period.
The Thunderwolves came out flying early in the second. Jason Lange opened the scoring at 1:36, assisted by Chris Shaffer and Jeff Adduono. Shaffer made it 4-1 Lakehead at 2:17, on a nice 3-way passing play from Lange and Adduono. Laurier's Pat McCoubrey made it 4-2 at 14:41, assisted by Matt Schnarr and Bryan Kazarian. Lakehead's Shawn Perring ripped a wicked slapshot from the slot to beat VanHerpt high at 16:21, assisted by Mark Robinson. The Thunderwolves Matt Kenny made it 6-2 Lakehead at 17:38, on a hard low shot from the blueline, assisted by Leon Cooper and Murray Magill. Lakehead outshot Laurier 10-9 in the second period and had the edge in dangerous scoring chances.
The Thunderwolves came out a little flat in the third, and Laurier's Richard Colwill made it 6-3 at 5:34, assisted by Kevin Corso and Bryan Kazarian. The Hawks scored again at 11:54 on a goal by Richard Hwodeky, assisted by Kazarian and Tim Parsons. Lakehead's Chris Shaffer made the score 7-4 at 16:33on a low shot from the slot that beat new Hawk's goaltender Justin Day between the legs, assisted by Jason Lange. Lakehead's Craig Priestlay made the score 8-4 at 18:53, on a shorthanded empty net goal assisted by Robert Hillier. Laurier outshot Lakehead 9-7 in the third period.
Lakehead Head Coach Pete Belliveau thought it was a good game for the fans.
"It was a pretty game for the crowd, but not a good defensive game. We played good two-way hockey for the first two periods, but we let down in the third and let Laurier get close. We will have to play better defensively tomorrow."
The Three Stars, as picked by TBT/CKPR Sports Director Bryan Wyatt, were:
1) Lakehead's Chris Shaffer, with 2 goals and an assist.
2) Laurier's Bryan Kazarian with 3 assists.
3) Lakehead's Shawn Perring with a goal and some hard checks.
My Twolves Shout-Outs goes to Aaron Piccinin for asserting himself out there, Robert Hillier for playing great two-way hockey, and to Jason Lange playing some great offensive hockey!!!!
Lakehead outshot Laurier 30-23. The two teams take to the ice again Saturday night at 7:30 at the Fort William Gardens in Thunder Bay in what should be an exciting second game of the series.