Erik Lodges goal with .1 second left in the first OT and Captain Joel Scherbans natural hat trick gave the Lakehead mens hockey team a 5-4 OT win over the York Lions Friday night at the Fort William Gardens in Thunder Bay. The win also gave the Wolves a 2-0 series win in the best-of-three OUA preliminary playoff round. It was a hot night of fantastic playoff hockey in frigid Thunder Bay as York netminder Kevin Druce and Lakehead goaltender Grant McCune made multiple game saving stops to keep the thriller close.
Lakeheads other goal came from Mark Robinson. Lodge also added two assists as did Murray Magill. Matt Passfield led the Lions with a goal and an assist while York singles came from Sean Langdon, Marcus Smith, and Darryl Thomson. Lakehead outshot York 50-47 on the night. Scherban was again the Lion tamer as he scored five goals in the two Lakehead wins over York.
Lakeheads OUA record now sits at 15-9-2 (13-9-2 reg. season, 2-0 playoffs) and is 19-15-4 overall. York ends its season at 10-13-1-2 in OUA play (10-11-1-2 reg. season; 0-2 playoffs) and 10-20-1-2 overall.
Lakehead will now wait to see who they will play in the OUA Quarter-Finals. It will either be Western or Laurier; depending upon the results of the Brock-Waterloo series. If Waterloo defeats Brock; Lakehead will play Western. If Brock defeats Waterloo; the Wolves will play Laurier.
The first period was very exciting with both goaltenders making some fine saves and neither team able to pot a goal. York outshot Lakehead 14-13 in the first. Yorks Langdon opened the scoring at 1:29, assisted by Tyler Harrison. Lakehead tied it at 7:47 on Robinsons goal assisted by Dan Speer and Erik Lodge. Scherban made it 2-1 for the Wolves with a beautiful short-handed goal when he intercepted a York pass; broke in from the right side and fired a hard one-handed backhander over Druces shoulder at 17:27, and scored the goal while fending off a York player with his other hand. The Lions Smith tied it with only 4 seconds left in the second; firing a hard shot that ramped off a Lakehead d-mans stick and over McCunes shoulder. Shots were 13-11 Lakehead in the second.
Lakehead went on an early third period powerplay and Scherban fired a quick shot from the right side sharp angle that beat a surprised Druce at 2:30, assisted by Lodge and Magill. York came right back at 4:23 when Passfield beat McCune during a goalmouth scramble with assists to Phil Knapp and Thomson. Scherban again gave the Wolves the lead at 7:42 when he broke in at the net and redirected a perfect pass from Brad Priestlay. The Lions came back again to tie it at 10:32 when Thomson fired a low shot from outside the Lakehead blue line that fooled McCune. Lakehead outshot York 14-11 in the third.
York came out strong in OT and fired some hard shots but McCune was solid in the Lakehead net. The Wolves then applied pressure during the middle segment of the OT and Druce made a series of great stops to keep the game going. The Lions then put on some pressure of their own in the final two minutes but couldnt beat McCune. Lakehead went up the ice with about 30 seconds left and put on the pressure. With just seconds remaining, Murray Magill somehow feathered a pass across the York crease and through a crowd of players that a pinching Lodge fired home with just. .1 seconds left to give Lakehead the win and the series. York outshot Lakehead 11-10 in the OT and the Wolves had a slight edge on the night; 50-47.
Regardless of the opponent; Wednesdays second round playoff game will be videowebcast live from the Fort William Gardens in partnership with News-cast.com and ordering info is available at the Lakehead hockey site; www.thunderwolveshockey.com. Game time will be 7:25 EST.