The Lakehead Thunderwolves responded to Fridays defeat with a 5-3 win over the York Lions Saturday night in the second match of the two-game series at the Canlan Ice Sports Arena in Toronto, ON. It was an impressive outing for the Wolves and a complete team effort.
After a slow start to the game, Lakehead opened the scoring at 8:55 of the first period when Mike Hammond scored on the power play by rifling the puck past York goalie Andrew Perugini after being set up by Matt Caria and Mike Quesnele.
The Lions evened the score at 15:01 when Mackenzie Micks scored on a harmless looking wrist shot from just inside the blue line that seemed to handcuff Wolves netminder Jeff Bosch high on the glove side. But Lakehead responded at 17:53 when defenceman Chris De la Lande jumped into the play and scored on an odd-man rush after receiving a beautiful cross-ice pass from Trevor Gamache. Mike McDonald was credited with the other assist, and the opening period ended with the Thunderwolves leading 2-1. Shots on goal favored Lakehead by an 8-7 margin after the first 20 minutes.
Lakeheads momentum disappeared when it spent four of the first five minutes of the second period short-handed when Caria and Carson Dubchak took back-to- back penalties early on. York applied a lot of pressure, but a steadied Jeff Bosch was equal to the task while the Wolves were a man short.
The Lions tied the game up at 8:17 when Michael Santini broke in all alone and beat Bosch high to the blocker side. Santini later took a tripping penalty with just over two minutes remaining in the period, and although Lakehead wasnt able to keep up any sustained pressure, the Wolves just missed regaining the lead when Hammond rang a shot off the crossbar, and both teams retired to their dressing rooms with the score knotted at 2-2. York outshot Lakehead 8-5 in the middle frame.
The Thunderwolves took a 3-2 lead just 3:45 into the third period when Victor Anilane fed Caria, who in turn beat Perugini for the go-ahead goal. Less than four minutes later, Lakehead went ahead 4-2 on a short-handed goal when Caria made a nice play to set up McDonald on a two-on-one break at the 7:23 mark.
York closed the gap to 4-3 when Micks notched his second marker of the game at 11:43, but Lakehead quickly responded when Adam Sergerie scored after being left alone in front of the Lions net, restoring the Wolves' two-goal lead. Assists on the goal went to Mitch Fillman Carson Dubchak.
Lakehead tightened up defensively for the remainder of thegame to seal the 5-3 victory. Shots on goal were 14-8 for Lakehead in the final period, and 27-23 in favor of the Wolves for the game.
The win improves Lakeheads OUA record to 11-7-2, and puts the Thunderwolves back in a fourth-place tie with York in the West Division.
The Wolves return home next weekend for a pair of games against the Ontario Tech Ridgebacks.