Brock McPherson and the Thunderwolves powerplay were on fire, Friday night, as the Lakehead mens hockey team edged the Toronto Varsity Blues 7-6 at the Fort William Gardens. McPherson scored four goals, including three on the man advantage while teammate Scott Dobben tallied the Wolves other two powerplay markers while adding two assists.
With the win, the CIS No. 10 Thunderwolves improve to 7-3-1 in OUA play and are in a three-way tie for second in the OUA West with Laurier and Waterloo, one point back of Western. Toronto drops to 5-5-1 and are fifth in the OUA East.
Mark Soares scored Lakeheads other goal while Andy Zulyniak and Dan Speer each had three assists.
Robert Kay had a hat-trick of his own to lead Toronto while Matt Walters, Byron Elliott and Bryden Teich also scored for the visitors.
Lakehead opened scoring with emphasis as McPherson netted two powerplay goals just 28 seconds apart, the last coming at 9:48 of the first period. Dobben and Ryan Baird assisted on the first tally, with Andy Zulyniak and Jordan Smith adding the helpers on the second.
A weak Wolves defensive effort towards the end of the period let Toronto tied things up as Walters banged one home, followed by Elliott beating Lakehead goalie Alex Dupuis to a loose puck before deking him and sliding it into the empty net.
Soares opened the second period scoring at 1:17 with an unassisted goal that slipped through Toronto netminder Andrew Martins five-hole.
The Varsity Blues countered two minutes later with a five-on-three powerplay goal from Kay who slapped a one-timer in from the left slot.
Two Thunderwolves powerplay goals made it 5-3 Wolves as Dobben scored first at 7:30, followed by McPherson at 11:20.
Second period scoring closed as the teams traded goals. Kay scored for Torono at 18:30, assisted by Elliott before McPherson scored his 12th of the season at 19:13, assisted by Soares and Anilane.
Kays third goal, a powerplay marker at 6:47 brought the Blues within one and the team later tied things up at 17:15 when Teich found the back of the net.
Dobbens winner came less than 30 seconds later with the man advantage as he tipped home McPhersons shot through traffic. From there, Lakehead survived an aggressive attack as Toronto pulled Martin from the net, nearly scoring with seconds to play as time expired during a scrum in the Wolves crease.
Lakehead will take on Toronto in game two, Saturday night at the Fort William Gardens. Faceoff goes at 7:30pm.