The No. 9 Lakehead Thunderwolves mens hockey team lost 8-5 to No. 7 UQTR Friday night in Trois Rivieres, Quebec. Lakehead now has a 9-3-1 OUA record (11-6-1 overall) while UQTR is now 8-0-1-3 in conference play and 11-3-2-3 overall.
Freshman Mark Soares had a great night in a losing cause as he scored three goals and added an assist. Tobias Whelan had a goal and an assist and Matt Jacques potted the other Lakehead goal. Defenseman Drew Kivell added two assists.
UQTR was led by Mathieu Gravel with two goals and two assists and Jonathan Boutin with a goal and four assists. Van Gaudette added two goals for the winners while singles came from Thierry Poudrier (2 assists), Eric Beudin, and Samuel Gibbons.
Lakehead had a 2-1 lead after one but UQTR came back with four goals in the second to lead 5-4 after two periods of play. The Wolves tied it early in the third but UQTR would score three unanswered goals for the win. UQTR outshot Lakehead 41-24 in the game.
Lakehead Head Coach Pete Belliveau said UQTR worked hard for the victory. I give full marks to UQTR in the win as they worked hard all night. Mark Soares had a great game for us but we need our whole team, especially our veterans, to step up tomorrow if we are going to be successful against a good team like UQTR.
The two teams face off again in Trois Rivieres Saturday at 2:00 pm EST and the game can be heard live in Thunder Bay on 580 CKPR AM radio and online at www.ckpr.com. Bryan Wyatt will be calling the action live and Jonas Gilbart will handle the pre-game and intermission duties.