A noisy Thanksgiving crowd of 2987 fans saw the Lakehead Thunderwolves down the ST. FX X-Men 3--1 Monday afternoon at the Fort William Gardens in Thunder Bay. Lakehead was led by Murray Magill with two goals while Joel Scherban added the other Lakehead marker. It was Magill's second two-goalgame in two nights vs. St. FX and also his fourth consecutive game to score a goal. Ryan Armstrong scored for the X-Men on a penalty shot. The line of Magill, Peter Cava, and Sean Stefanski played a very strong game for the 'Wolves while rookie netminder Chris Whitley was again very sharp in the Lakehead net. Lakehead had the edge in play for the first two periods but the X-Men picked it up in the third. Lakehead outshot St. FX 32-27 in the game. The win puts Lakehead's non-conference record to 6-2 while the X-Men's record goes to 0-5.
Action was fast in the first five minutes with the Thunderwolves getting a few scoring chances. Murray Magill gave the 'Wolves a 1-0 lead at 3:39 when he knocked in a pass from Sean Stefanski that beat X-Men netminder Tyson Kellerman. The other assist went to Drew Kivell. Lakehead goalie Chris Whitley made a good save off a hard shot by StFX's Patrick Grandmaitre at the 8:40 mark. The X-men went on the powerplay and Whitley was sharp, turning aside two tough shots. X's Kellerman made a great save off Lakehead's Sean Stefanski after a lovely set-up from Peter Cava. Shots in the first were 10-9 Lakehead.
The second began with Chris Shaffer tipping a Jeff Richards' shot that was stopped nicely by Kellerman. X then put on the pressure but Whitley held firm in the 'Wolves goal. Lakehead's Austin Wycisk fired a wicked shot that was snagged by Kellerman. Lakehead Captain Joel Scherban made it 2-0 at 5:20 when he used the X d-man as a screen and blasted a hard slap shot that beat Kellerman top corner glove side. Assists went to Chris Shaffer and Drew Kivell. Magill made it 3-0 at 5:50 when he pounced on a loose puck in front of the X goal. Assists went to Cava and Stefanski. Lakehead's Whitley came up with a good stop off a point blank blast by X's Ryan Walsh.
Things got a little testy on the ice at this point with some coincidental minors called. X's Kellerman then made two good saves off Richards and Shaffer. The X-Men then had a little pressure and Whitley came up with two great saves, including a fine glove save off X's Tyler Dyck. Play went back in Lakehead's favour and Chris Shaffer fired a hard shot from the slot that was blocked by Kellerman. The game turned really rough at the 12:52 mark when a small skirmish broke out in front of the X bench which resulted in X's Ryan Walsh getting ejected for spearing and some minors to each side. This resulted in Lakehead having a 5-on-3 advantage. The Wolves pressed but had difficulty hitting the net as X played good D, blocking and deflecting point shots and killing off the penalties. Kellerman robbed Chris Shaffer from the slot. X then went on the PP with three minutes left, and buzzed the Lakehead net; but only got one good shot off that was handled by Whitley. The period ended with Lakehead's Austin Wycisk made a diving chop at the puck in front of the X goal, but Kellerman was up to the task. Lakehead drew a minor at the end of the period. Another skirmish broke out with 0.1 seconds left that resulted in Lakehead outshot the X-Men 13-9 in the second.
The third opened with the 'Wolves Scherban breaking in a blasting a shot that was kept out by Kellerman. Play then went back and forth with both teams firing the puck hard. Both teams drew minors in the middle section of the period but neither side could take advantage of their opportunities. X got on the board at 12:15 when Lakehead's Jesse Baraniuk dive