The Lakehead Thunderwolves defeated the Waterloo Warriors 3-1 Saturday night at the Columbia Icefields Arena in Waterloo to complete the sweep of their two game weekend series. The win raises Lakehead's record to 2-2-0 while Waterloo's record now stands at 0-4-0. The Warriors have proven a tough opponent for the Thunderwolves in their first two years in the OUA, and tonight was no different. The game was a tight checking affair, in contrast to the high scoring 8-5 Lakehead win on Friday night.
The first period saw the Warriors come out fast, playing the Thunderwolves very tight and forechecking tenaciously. Lakehead notched the period's only goal at 13:04, on a bullet shot from the right side by Murray Magill , assisted by Wyatt Tunnicliffe. Waterloo goaltender Jeff Johnson made two big saves in the period, one off Lakehead's Jason Lange at the 5:00 mark, and another great glove save off a hard shot from Lakhead's Robert Hillier at 13:27.
There was no scoring in the second period, with both teams playing a tight-checking style of game. Warrior's goaltender Johnson was again sharp, making big saves off different Thunderwolves shooters.
The early part of the third period saw both teams exchange minor penalties, but neither able to take advantage of their powerplay advantages. Then at 7:53, Lakehead's Bradley Bartlett took a sharp angled shot from the boards that found its way past Warrior's netminder Johnson to make it 2-0 for Lakehead. The Thunderwolves were called for too many men on the ice, and Warrior's star Mark Robson capitalized when he scored a powerplay marker at 9:59 to cut the lead to 2-1. Waterloo worked hard to get the equalizer, pulling Johnson at 1:20 for the extra attacker. But, Lakehead's Craig Priestlay scored the insurance empty netter at 19:55, on a pass from Robert Hillier.
Lakehead Head Coach Pete Belliveau was happy with his team's performance.
"It was a much better win than last night. Last night's was ugly, tonight's was a good win. It was a playoff type game and the guys battled hard."
The Thunderwolves outshot Waterloo 39-16. The Thunderwolves travel to Toronto next weekend to take on the York Yeomen.