The Lakehead Thunderwolves fell 5-1 to the McGill Redmen in front of 3021 fans at the Fort William Gardens on Saturday night.
Lakehead took an early 1-0 lead when Ryan Magill fed Mike Hammond, who fired the puck high to beat McGill goalie Karel St. Laurent just 6:14 into the game.
That goal was the cue for the fans to throw their stuffed animals onto the ice as this was the annual teddy bear toss game, and play was held up for a few minutes to clear the ice.
When the action resumed, McGill evened the score when Jonathan Brunelle beat Lakehead netminder Justin McDonald at the 8:45 mark. That was all the scoring in the first period, due in large part to some big saves made by McDonald in the Wolves net.
Samuel Lebrecque gave the Redmen the lead just over two minutes into the second period, and then at 15:54, Neal Prokop made it 3-1 for McGill after McDonald mishandled the puck on a clearing attempt. Less than 30 seconds later, Guillaume Monast scored on a deflection to give the Redmen a 4-1 lead heading into the third.
Hammond and Magill both had good scoring chances in the final frame but were stymied by St. Laurent, and then with 3:06 left on the clock Simon Tardif-Richard was left all alone in the slot and rifled the puck high on McDonald to round out the scoring at 5-1 for McGill.
The Molson Three Stars of the game were:
1.Karel St. Laurent, McGill
2.Justin McDonald, Lakehead
3.Neal Prokop, McGill
Lakehead will head to Kingston next weekend for a pair of games against the Queens Golden Gaels.