The biggest crowd in the past three seasons for a Waterloo Warriors home game saw Murray Magill's two goals pace the No. 4 Lakehead Thunderwolves to a 5-1 win over the Warriors Wednesday night at the Columbia Icefields Arena. The win gives Lakehead a 1-0 lead in their Best-of-3 OUA Far West Division Semi-Final series. Game Two takes place Friday night at the Fort William Gardens in Thunder Bay at 7:30 p.m. EST, with Game Three Saturday night if necessary.
Lakehead's other markers came from Austin Wycisk, Jeff Richards, and Kris Callaway while Waterloo's goal came from Adam Metherel. Lakehead outshot Waterloo 38-28 in the game. It was a very physical playoff game that saw the Warriors try to outmuscle the Thunderwolves and throw off Lakehead's dangerous offense. The best line of the night for the Wolves was the second line of Murray Magill, Bryan Duce, and converted d-man Tyler Williamson who accounted for six points on the night. Another key factor was that Waterloo's standout goaltender Scott Gouthro was not able to play.
The Warriors game plan was working in the first as they carried the play to Lakehead and the Thunderwolves seemed a little tentative. However, Lakehead's Richards got the game's first goal at 3:02 on a shorthanded effort set up by Mike Jacobsen. Richards sped down the left side and fired a hard low wrist shot that beat Waterloo goaltender Jeremy Elliot.
The Thunderwolves came out in the second with jump and Austin Wycisk made it 2-0 at 2:07, set up by Mike Wehrstedt. Murray Magill made it 3-0 at 2:59 when he was set up by Bryan Duce on a 2-on-1. The other assist went to Tyler Williamson. Magill notched his second of the match at 12:34, again set up by Duce and Williamson. Adam Metherel got the Warriors on the board at 16:30, scoring a powerplay marker set up by Jeff Fiorino off the draw in the Lakehead end. Metherel fired a hard wrist shot that went past screened Lakehead goaltender Grant Mcune in the top right corner.
The final stanza saw Waterloo come out hitting, but the Wolves countered with some hard hitting of their own. Lakehead seemed content to play a defensive game in the third. Waterloo put on the pressure in final three minutes but couldn't beat McCune. Lakehead drew a penalty with just under a minute left and Waterloo pulled Elliot for the extra attacker. Lakehead's Kris Callaway fired a shot down the ice into the empty net at 19:12 to put the game away.