The No. 5 Ranked Lakehead Thunderwolves skated past the York Yeomen5-2 Friday night in a very clean and fast paced game at the Beatrice Ice Gardens on the York University campus. The win raises the Thunderwolves record to 3-2-0 and drops York to 2-2-1.
The first period was very fast, with both teams getting some good scoring opportunities on the big ice surface. Lakehead's goaltender Grant McCune made a great save off York centreman Shane Nash at the 9 minute mark. York netminder Derek Dolson replied 30 seconds later with a nice stop of his own, off a hard shot by Thunderwolves forward Leon Cooper. Dolson made another clutch save with a minute left, when Lakehead's Jeff Richard's intercepted a York pass and burst in alone but could not beat the York goalie. Lakehead outshot York 12-6 in the first period.
The second period started with a 3 goal outburst within a three minute span. Lakehead started the scoring at the 52 second mark when Jeff Richards jumped on his own rebound and backhanded it high over York netminder Dolson, with assists going to Joel Scherban and Bryan Duce. Lakehead made it 2-0 at 2:10, when Jeff Adduno made no mistake on a beautiful centering pass from Jason Lange, with the other assist going to Chris Shaffer. York quickly made it 2-1 at 3:23, when Philip Knapp knocked in a rebound from a hard point shot by Sean Murphy, with the other assist going to Peter McCague. The rest of the period featured fast end-to-end action and sharp goaltending by Lakehead's McCune and York's Dolson. Shots were equal at 11 apiece in the second period.
Lakehead jumped out quickly in the third. Bryan Duce snapped a quick shot past York's Dolson off a pass from Jeff Richards at the 1:12 mark to make it 3-1 Lakehead. Lakehead's McCune robbed York's Peter McCague at the 5 minute mark with an incredible arm save, after it seemed McCague had beaten McCune and only had to put the puck in the empty net. Play went back the other way and Matt Kenny made it 4-1 Lakehead at 7:40, assisted by Robert Hillier and Craig Priestlay. York's Chris Lettieri then ripped a shot high over Grant McCune at 10:30 to make it 4-2, assisted by Philip Knapp. York pulled their goalie Dolson and applied some late pressure but were unable to make the score any closer, with Grant McCune stoning the York shooters. Then Lakehead's Aaron Piccinin notched the empty-net insurance marker at 19:36 to make the final score 5-2, with an assist to Chris Shaffer.
Shots on goal in the third were 18-11 York, with final shots being York 35 and Lakehead 34.
Lakehead Head Coach Pete Belliveau said the Thunderwolves followed their game plan well.
"It was our best road victory of the season, a real team effort. The guys battled hard and showed a lot of character, and they played a disciplined game within our system."
The two teams take to the ice again Saturday afternoon at 2:00 PM at the Beatrice Ice Gardens.