In a game that was more indicative of the caliber of the two teams, the No. 3 Western Mustangs defeated the No. 4 Lakehead Thunderwolves 5-4 Saturday night before 1064 fans at the Thompson Arena in London. It was a very exciting game filled with high drama, great goaltending, great goals, and even a heavyweight fight. It was far better game than Friday's which saw Western pound Lakehead 9-2.
Lakehead's conference record now stands at 13-5 in conference play and 18-9-2 overall. Western's record goes to 18-0 in OUA play and 20-6-1 overall. The win extends Western's two-season long regular season unbeaten streak to 42. Western was lead by Tim Zafiris with three goals and Darren Mortier with two. Lakehead's scorers were Erik Lodge with two, and Chris Shaffer and Mark Robinson with one each.
Lakehead started out fast in the first, applying some early pressure forcing Western goaltender Mike D'Alessandro to make some early saves. Erik Lodge opened the scoring at 4:07 when he blasted a wicked slapshot that went in over the shoulder of D'Alessandro. Robert Hillier took a hard shot that D'Allesandro squeezed between his legs at 6:10. D'Alessandro came up with another big save off a blast by Lakehead's Mike Jacobsen. A penalty to Western's Joey Talbot proved costly when Lakehead's Mark Robinson came off the bench and intercepted a Western pass and then broke in alone on D'Alessandro and beat him with a hard wristshot at 17:11. Then Western scored a powerplay goal of their at 18:20 when Darren Mortier knocked in a rebound from a shot by Ryan Mckie. The other assist went to Justin Davis. Lakehead controlled play for most of the period and outshot Western 13-6 in the first.
Lakehead came out fast again in the second, getting some early chances in the first two minutes. Then, Western turned on the offense and took control of play for most of the second. Western's Franco Vincelli took a hard shot that was blocked neatly by Lakehead goaltender Grant McCune at the 2:00 mark. McCune followed with a great save off Justin Davis during a Western powerplay a minute later. At 8:00, McCune was screened by about three Mustangs parked in front of the net, but he still made an incredible glove save off a hard point shot by Brad Yeo. Later, Lakehead's Erik Lodge launched a rocket that Western's D'Alessandro kicked out with a big rebound with Lakehead's Chris Shaffer just missed the rebound. Western broke out quickly with Jamie Chamberlain and Tim Zafiris going in on McCune on a two-on-one and Zafiris knocked it home to make the score 2-2 at 13:40. Western then took the lead 3-2 on the powerplay at 18:16 on Darren Mortier's second of the game. Western outshot Lakehead 19-3 in the second.
The third period was wild, featuring back and forth action, hard hitting, and a lot of scoring chances for both teams. Tim Zafiris quickly made it 4-2 with his second of the game at the 55 second mark of the third, with the assist to Abe Herbst. At 2:24, there was a short heavyweight bout between Lakehead's 6'0, 230 Aaron Piccinin and Western's 6'5, 220 Chris Berti. Piccinin ended up on top of Berti on the ice and this seemed to fire up the Thunderwolves. Western's Tim Zafiris then tripped Lakehead Captain Joel Scherban. Western then drew another penalty at 4:19 which gave Lakehead a two man advantage. Erik Lodge made Western pay when he scored his second of the game on the powerplay at 4:39, with the assist to Jason Lange. Chris Shaffer quickly tied it at 4:53 on a powerplay breakaway goal.
Western then had a couple good chances stopped nicely by Lakehead's McCune. Lakehead roared back up the ice and Joel Scherban blasted a shot over the Western goal. The Mustangs retook the lead 5-4 at 10:34 when Tim Zafiris completed his hat trick. D'Alessandro then made a good save off a hard shot by Lakehead's Lodge. D'Alessandro followed with a great blocker save off Jeff Richards at 15:10. The Thunderwolves