March 26, 2010
THUNDER BAY, Ont. (CIS) The tournament host and fourth-seeded Lakehead Thunderwolves struck early and never let up on their way to a 7-2 win over the No. 6 UQTR Patriotes in the fourth game of the CIS mens hockey championship, Friday night, at Fort William Gardens.
University Cup website: http://english.cis-sic.ca/championships/mice
With the result, first place in Pool A and a spot in Sundays University cup final (7 p.m. Rogers Sportsnet / SSN Canada) will be on the line Saturday at 7 p.m. (Rogers Sportsnet / SSN Canada) when the T-Wolves (1-0) face the tourney favourite Alberta Golden Bears (1-0) in the final duel of the preliminary round.
The Bears beat UQTR 4-2 in the Pool A opener on Thursday.
The Patriotes return home with an 0-2 record and finish third in the group.
Lakehead opened the first period at a frenetic pace, generating several early chances after UQTR defenseman Alex Lamontagne (Crabtree, Quebec) took an early hooking penalty.
It was a short-handed break that produce the games opening goal, however, when three-year forward Kris Hogg (Sicamous, British Columbia) slapped a short-side bullet past Patriotes goalie Jean-Christophe Blanchard (Trois-Rivires, Quebec) with one second remaining on Lakehead forward Andy Hyvarinens penalty at 7:06.
Fifth-year senior Dan Speer (Thunder Bay, Ontario) made it 2-0 Lakehead at 13:06, slapping a shot into the net from twelve feet out before fourth year Brock McPherson (Brampton, Ontario) tallied the game-winner less than three minutes later.
All three of Lakeheads first period goals were assisted by fifth-year senior Scott Dobben (Drayton, Ontario) who earned Thunderwolves player of the game honours.
They came out strong, said Blanchard at a post-game media conference. The first period of a tournament like that is always important. They came out tough and it was a hard game.
Lakehead continued to the heavy pressure in the second period, adding three goals courtesy of freshmen Matt Caria (Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario) and Ryan McDonald (Prince Albert, Saskatchewan) and Speers second of the game a power play marker that made the score 5-1 at the 9:04 mark.
I thought that tonight our fore check was the key, said Thunderwolves head coach Joel Scherban. We knew coming in a few weeks ago that we needed to step up the pressure and I think we did that tonight to generate a lot of offence.
The smaller ice surface of the Fort William Gardens helped Lakehead establish a physical tone early in a game which saw the Patriotes collect 42 penalty minutes, and the Thunderwolves, 26. Lakehead capitalized with two power play goal on eight chances while UQTR went 1-of-10 on the man advantage.
Part of our game plan every night is to be a physical team, said Lakehead captain Jordan Smith. When were skating and playing physical were at our best. I thought that everybody did a great job of getting in there and you saw the result on the scoreboard.
UQTR second-year forward Francis Charland (Victoriaville, Quebec) and first year Flix Petit (Jonquire, Quebec) scored their teams two goals at 5:00 and 12:33 of the second, respectively.
With the game out-of-reach, Caria added his second goal at 3:04 of the third period.
Both goaltenders were busy in net as Lakeheads first year net minder Alex Dupuis (Thunder Bay, Ontario) made on 35 saves on 37 shots.
His counterpart Blanchard made 40 saves on 47 shots.
The damage could have been even worse for the Patriotes as Blanchard made several big stops on breakaway opportunities by Dobben and Shandor Alphonso (Orangeville, Ontario) in the second period.
GAME NOTES: In nine previous games at the University Cup since 1973, Lakehead had never scored more than four goals in a game (twice)... In the only previous game between the two teams at the CIS championship, in 2003 in Fredericton, UQTR had prevailed 2-1 in pool play... The Thunderwolves are 0-4 lifetime at the University Cup tournament against their next opponent on Saturday, Alberta... Four-time national champion UQTR (1987, 1991, 2001, 2003) has now failed to advance past pool play in three straight University Cup appearances after going 1-1 in 2007 in Moncton and 0-2 in 2005 in Edmonton...
SCORING SUMMARY
Lakehead 7, UQTR 2
FIRST PERIOD
SCORING:
1. LAK Kris Hogg (1) (Scott Dobben), 7:06 SH
2. LAK Dan Speer (1) (Scott Dobben, Mark Soares), 13:11
3. LAK Brock McPherson (1) (Scott Dobben), 15:40 PP
PENALTIES:
Alex Lamontagne (UQTR) hooking, 2:39;
Kalvin Sagert (LAK) slashing, 5:07;
Mitch Maunu (LAK) high sticking, 9:44;
Alexandre Demers (UQTR) unsportsmanlike conduct, 12:47;
Andy Hyvarinen (LAK), unsportsmanlike conduct, 12:47;
Flix Petit (UQTR) hooking, 14:53;
Mark Soares (LAK) roughing after the whistle, 16:39.
SECOND PERIOD
SCORING:
4. LAK Matt Caria (1) (Shandor Alphonso, Matt Dias), 2:08
5. UQTR Francis Charland (1) (tienne Bellavance-Martin, Jean-Sbastien Breton), 5:00 PP
6. LAK Ryan McDonald (1) (Andrew Wilkins, Kris Hogg), 7:28
7. LAK Dan Speer (2) (Jordan Smith), 9:04 PP
8. UQTR Flix Petit (2) (Pierre-Luc Lessard, Olivier Donovan), 12:33
PENALTIES:
Olivier Donovan (UQTR) cross checking, 3:03;
Kris Hogg (LAK) interference, 3:03;
Scott Dobben (LAK) roughing, 3:56;
Maxime Lvesque (UQTR) tripping, 8:13;
Alexandre Demers (UQTR) 10-minute misconduct, 8:13;
Aaron Alphonso (LAK) goaltender interference, 11:02;
tienne Bellavance-Martin (UQTR) illegal equipment, 12:06;
Louis-tienne Leblanc (UQTR) tripping, 13:25;
Olivier Donovan (UQTR) slashing, 15:07;
Matt Caria (LAK) roughing, 18:23.
THIRD PERIOD
SCORING:
9. LAK Matt Caria (2) (Matt Dias, Mitch Maunu), 3:04
PENALTIES:
Ryan Baird (LAK) hooking, 0:50;
Maxime Frchette (UQTR) checking to the head, 3:34;
Maxime Frchette (UQTR) 10-minute misconduct, 3:34;
Matt Caria (LAK) roughing after the whistle, 5:07;
Matt Caria (LAK) hooking, 9:09;
Louis-tienne Leblanc (UQTR) unsportsmanlike conduct, 13:46;
Ryan McDonald (LAK) hooking, 13:46;
Alexandre Demers (UQTR) high sticking, 14:29;
Mitch Maunu (LAK) holding, 17:31.
GOALS (by period)
LAK: 3-3-1:7
UQTR: 0-2-0:2
SHOTS ON GOAL (by period)
LAK: 20-11-16:47
UQTR: 11-14-12: 37
POWER PLAY:
LAK: 2-8
UQTR: 1-10
GOALTENDERS
LAK Alex Dupuis (W, 1-0, 37 shots, 35 saves, 2 GA, 60:00)
UQTR Jean-Christophe Blanchard (L, 0-2, 47 shots, 40 saves, 7 GA, 60:00)
PLAYERS OF THE GAME:
LAK: Scott Dobben
UQTR: Francis Charland
REFEREE: Jonathan Langille
LINESMEN: Kevin Kuluski, Nigel Black
ATTENDANCE: 2,944
START: 7:37
END: 9:48
LENGTH: 2:11
POOLS, SCHEDULE & RESULTS
Pool A
1. Alberta
4. Lakehead
6. UQTR
Pool B
2. McGill
3. Saint Marys
5. Manitoba
Pool A standings (after 2 of 3 games)
GP W L GF GA PTS
1. Lakehead 1 1 0 7 2 2
2. Alberta 1 1 0 4 2 2
3. UQTR 2 0 2 4 11 0
Pool B standings (after 2 of 3 games)
1. SMU1 1 0 4 2 2
2. Manitoba 1 1 0 5 4 2
3. McGill 2 0 2 6 9 0
Thursday, March 25
Pool B #1: Manitoba 5, McGill 4 (OT)
Pool A #1: Alberta 4, UQTR 2
Friday, March 26
Pool B #2: Saint Marys 4, McGill 2
Pool A #2: Lakehead 7, UQTR 2
Saturday, March 27
14:00 Pool B #3: Saint Marys vs. Manitoba (Rogers Sportsnet / SSN Canada webcast)
19:00 Pool A #3: Lakehead vs. Alberta (Rogers Sportsnet / SSN Canada webcast)
Sunday, March 28
19:00 University Cup Final (Rogers Sportsnet / SSN Canada webcast)