The Brock Badgers played their style of game, but the Lakehead Thunderwolves ground out a 2-1 Saturday night win at St. Catharines, Ontario as Wolves goalie Kyle Moir made 21 saves and came within 88 seconds of a shutout. The win was Lakeheads third in a row and improved their record to 14-5-2, good for a share of third place in the OUA West with Wilfrid Laurier.
Freshman Matt Caria (Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario) scored the powerplay winner at 15:12 of the third period. His third of the season came off feeds from Dan Speer (Thunder Bay) and Brock McPherson (Brampton, Ontario) who returned to the Thunderwolves lineup after recovering from a lower body injury sustained two weeks earlier at Western.
Fifth-year senior Scott Dobben (Drayton, Ontario) scored Lakeheads other goal, a clutch tally at 1:14 of the third period after two scoreless periods to open the game. Defensemen Kalvin Sagert (Abbotsford, Ontario) and Mitch Maunu (Thunder Bay) earned the assists.
Brocks lone marker came courtesy of senior Ryan Stephenson (Belmont, Ontario) with Vince Scott (Mississauga, Ontario) getting the helper.
Lakehead won despite mustering only nine shots through two periods as the Badgers tight-checking style stalled the Thunderwolves high-octane attack. The Wolves turned it up a notch in the final frame, however, peppering 13 shots at Brock goalie Matt Yetman (Mount Pearl, Newfoundland) to eke out the win.
The Thunderwolves travel west to Waterloo, Ontario for a date with rivals the Laurier Golden Hawks at the Sun Life Arena. The puck drops at 7:30 p.m.