The Lakehead Thunderwolves rallied from a two-goal deficit to defeat the Waterloo Warriors 4-3 at the Columbia Ice Field on Friday night.
Waterloo got the only goal of the first period when Nick Halagian beat Lakehead netminder Devin Green on a two-on-one break just over six minutes into the contest.
Joey Champigny put Waterloo up 2-0 early in the second stanza and the Warriors threatened to increase their lead, but some timely saves by Green kept the Wolves in the game.
Lakehead steadied the ship and began to turn the tide as the period progressed.
Cody Alcock put the Wolves on the scoreboard near the halfway point when he broke in alone on Waterloo goalie Mike Morrison and fooled him with a hard shot to the short side. Dylan Donnelly and Patrick Murphy were credited with the assists.
Waterloo replied 27 seconds later on a one-timer by Michael Morgan that Green had no chance on.
Brennen Dubchak pulled Lakehead back to within a goal at 12:27 when he pounced on a fortuitous bounce off a Waterloo defender and fired the puck into an open cage with the Wolves on the power play. Carson Dubchak and Murphy picked up the helpers.
Lakeheads Billy Jenkins tied the game by finishing off an odd-man rush set up perfectly by Carson Dubchak 7:27 into the third, with Kelin Ainsworth getting the second assist.
It looked like the game was headed for overtime, but after a nice set-up by Justin Sefton and Carson Dubchak, Alcock fired a rocket from the slot past Morrison low on the stick side with 33 seconds to go, giving the Wolves a dramatic 4-3 victory.
On the night, Lakehead went 1-for-4 on the power play, while Waterloo was 0-for-5.
Total shots on goal in the game were 30-25 for the Warriors.
Lakehead will wind up its three-game road trip when these same two teams take to the ice again tomorrow, with the opening face-off set for 4:00 p.m.