The Lakehead Thunderwolves fell 1-0 to the Western Ontario Mustangs in front of a sell-out crowd of 3,735 Friday night at the Fort William Gardens in Thunder Bay, ON in a battle for OUA West supremacy.
The first period was a dominated by special teams as both teams make frequent trips to the penalty box; Lakehead and Western Ontario each made five trips to the sin bin. There was a nice pace to the game even with the penalties, and both teams were fired up and laying the body.
Thunderwolves starting netminder Alex Dupuis continued his strong play with two huge point blank saves on OUA leading scorer Keaton Turkiewicz and Thunder Bay native Zach Harnden.
Western got on the board first on a 5-on-3 power-play as Turkiewicz placed a hard shot over Dupuis shoulder, giving the Mustangs the 1-0 lead at 2:07 of the second period.
The physical play really picked up in the middle frame, highlighted by a huge hit from Lakehead freshman Jake Carrick on Western forward Kevin Baker that really ignited the full house of Thunderwolves fans. Lakehead had some great chances on the power-play, but could not put it past Mustangs goalie Josh Unice.
The third period was a spirited affair in which the referees let the teams play, and it made for some very entertaining hockey. Alex Dupuis was very sharp for Lakehead, making several big saves to keep his team in it but the Thunderwolves were unable to capitalize on their chances giving Western the 1-0 win.
The Molson 3 stars of the game were
1st- Josh Unice, Western Ontario
2nd- Keaton Turkiewicz, Western Ontario
3rd- Alex Dupuis, Lakehead
Both teams are in action again Saturday night at the Fort William Gardens, puck drop is at 7:30 PM.