The Lakehead Thunderwolves defeated the York Lions 5-3 at the Canlan Ice Sports Arena in Toronto on Saturday night.
Mike Hammond led the way for the Wolves with two goals and an assist, with his first marker coming on the power play at 13:46 of the first period when he beat York netminder Andrew Perugini after being set up by Mitch Fillman and Mike Quesnele.
Lakehead dominated the play in the opening period as the Wolves outshot York 17-7 and took a 1-0 lead into the dressing room heading into the second.
Another power play goal by Hammond at 6:24 of the middle frame gave the Wolves a 2-0 lead, with the assists being credited to Cody Alcock and Trevor Gamache.
The momentum then shifted in Yorks favor as the Lions replied with three straight goals. Evan Gravenor got York on the board first while the Lions had the man-advantage at the 8:04 mark. Less than 30 seconds later, Troy Barss fired the puck past Lakehead goalie Justin McDonald to tie the game up, and then with only four seconds left in the period, Jordan Forfar scored to give York a 3-2 lead heading into the final frame.
York outshot Lakehead by a 14-4 margin in the middle stanza.
The Wolves responded well to the adversity and evened it up at 3-3 when Adam Restoule scored his first goal of the season just 1:43 into the third period. Ryan Magill and James DeLory recorded the assists.
Keith Grondin scored the winner on a feed from Hammond and Kelin Ainsworth at 11:44, and then Gamache and Quesnele found Cody Alcock who iced the game with an empty-netter with just over a minute to play in the game to seal the 5-3 victory for the Wolves.
York narrowly outshot Lakehead 11-10 in the final period and 32-31 on the game.
The win improves Lakeheads OUA record to 11-3, and the Wolves head into the Christmas exam break in a first-place tie with Windsor in the West Division, with Lakehead holding a game in hand over the Lancers.
The Thunderwolves will return to the ice when they take on the Laurentian Voyageurs in the Thunder Bay Crime Stoppers Christmas Challenge at the Fort William Gardens on December 27th and 28th.