Kyle Moir was 88 seconds short of a Saturday night shutout of Brock but made no mistake on Sunday, as the Lakehead Thunderwolves mens hockey team picked up an important 4-0 win over the Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks at the Sun Life Arena in Waterloo, Ontario. The junior netminder made 31 saves and stopped a second period penalty shot off the Hawks Mitchell Good to seal the win while Dan Speer (Thunder Bay) scored twice to lead the offence.
The win gives LU an undefeated two-game southern swing following a 2-1 Saturday night result at Brock and vaults the Thunderwolves (15-5-2) into sole possession of second place in the OUA West Division, four points back of the Western Mustangs. The Hawks fall to 14-6-2 and are fourth in the West.
I thought we played great this weekend, said Thunderwolves head coach Joel Scherban. The guys committed to playing great defence in both games and it showed as we allowed only one goal all weekend.
Junior Kris Hogg (Sicamous, British Columbia) continued his recent hot streak with his 11th goal of the season at 18:35 of the first period on assists from freshmen Ryan McDonald (Prince Albert, Saskatchewan) and Andrew Wilkins (Pickering, Ontario).
The Wolves would nurse that one-goal lead until 6:50 of the third period when Speer scored the first of his two powerplay goals with defenseman Pierre-Marc Guilbault (St. Julie, Quebec) and forward Brock McPherson (Brampton, Ontario) adding the helpers. Four minutes later, Speer hit the back of the net on another man advantage. McPherson recorded his second assist of the night on the play with freshman Matt Caria (Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario) credited with the other.
Caria picked up another assist at 16:47 as he and Kalvin Sagert (Abbotsford, British Columbia) fed freshman Matt Dias (Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario) for his fourth conference goal in a Wolves uniform since joining the program at midseason.
Things got chippy during the third period as Laurier forwards Ryan Bellows (St. Catharines, Ontario) and Jeff Borrows, and LU forward Adam Sergerie (Thunder Bay) each received game misconducts. Laurier was assessed 38 penalty minutes to Lakeheads 20 and the visitors went 2-9 on the PP. Shots in the game favoured the Thunderwolves by a slight 33-31 margin.
Another crucial series awaits the Thunderwolves next Friday at Saturday as first place Western visits the Fort William Gardens in Thunder Bay.