The Lakehead Thunderwolves fell to the Western Ontario Mustangs 3-1 Friday night at Thompson Arena in London, Ontario.
Both goaltenders Alex Dupuis for Lakehead and Anthony Grieco for Western Ontario played well in the low-scoring game.
Aaron Snow opened the scoring for the Mustangs at 4:12 of the first period. Lakehead outshot Western Ontario 11-10 in the opening stanza.
The Thunderwolves replied at 3:01 of the second period when Adam Sergerie beat Grieco to knot the score at 1-1. Brock McPherson assisted on the goal. The Mustangs outshot Lakehead 15-13 in the period, but were unable to solve Dupuis.
Western Ontario broke the tie at 8:27 of the third period when Keaton Turkiewicz got one past Dupuis, making the score 2-1 for the Mustangs. Lakehead mounted a lot of scroring opportunities in the third, but just couldnt get anything past Grieco. Kevin Baker iced the game for Western Ontario with an empty net goal with 11 seconds remaining in the game. Shots on goal favored the Mustangs 13-12 in the period, and 38-36 for the game.
The loss drops Lakehead six points behind Western Ontario, which has the lead in the OUA West Division.
Game two of the series goes Saturday night at 7:35 in London, Ontario.