The Lakehead Thunderwolves were edged 6-5 by the Guelph Gryphons in the second overtime period on Saturday night in an exciting match played before 2641 fans at the Fort William Gardens.
The first period of a very physical game saw a steady stream of penalties handed out to both teams and lots of offense, with each side scoring three times.
Guelphs Nicklas Huard opened the scoring 1:24 into the game, but Cody Alcock replied for Lakehead at 4:29 to even the score at 1-1.
Then with Lakehead on a five-on-three power play, Mike Hammond walked in a rifled a shot past Guelph netminder Andrew DAgostini to put the Wolves up 2-1 at the 9:47 mark, but the Gryphons Scott Simmonds tied the game up less than a minute later.
Soon after, Wolves goalie Jeff Bosch took a hard shot to the face mask and had to be replaced in the Lakehead goal by Justin McDonald, who was beaten by Kyle Neuber while the Gryphons had the man-advantage at the 11:35 mark.
Nathan Bruyere wired one past DAgostini at 16:35 to deadlock the score at 3-3 heading into the second.
Special teams were key for Guelph in the middle stanza, as the Gryphons struck twice to take a 5-3 lead after 40 minutes. MacKenzie Nichol put Guelph up by one at 10:08 on the power play, and then Andres Kopstals added another while the Gryphons were short-handed at 16:27.
With the Wolves on the power play, Bruyere notched his second goal of the night 2:31 into the third to narrow the Gryphons lead to 5-4, and then E.J. Faust tied it up by sliding the puck into an open net with DAgostini caught out of position, forcing the game into overtime.
The first five minutes of four-on-four was fast paced with end-to-end action, but both goalies came up with some big saves to push the match into a second overtime period of three-on-three hockey.
Mike Quesnele and Mike Hammond broke in on a two-on-one and just missed a great chance to end the game, and then Guelphs Seth Swenson came right back the other way to notch the winner.
Shots on goal in the game were 43-42 for Lakehead.
The Molson Three Stars of the game were:
1.Mike Hammond, Lakehead
2.MacKenzie Nichol, Guelph
3.Brennen Dubchak, Lakehead
The single point the Wolves picked up for the overtime loss was critical as it leaves Lakehead tied with Guelph for the last two playoff spots, one point ahead of Laurier and York.
That means Lakehead will control its own fate when the Wolves head to Kitchener next weekend to take on Waterloo and Laurier to conclude the OUA regular season.