The Lakehead Thunderwolves went up by three goals early then UOITs Tony Rizzi took over. The sophomore winger registered a hat-trick that included the game-winner with one minute left in the third as the Wolves were beaten by the Ridgebacks for the second time this season, Friday night at the Fort William Gardens.
The loss drops Lakehead (17-6-2) to third place in the OUA West Division while UOIT (10-14-1) took a huge step towards reaching the conference playoffs by moving ahead of Brock for the eighth and final seed.
All of Lakeheads goals came courtesy of freshmen as Matt Caria (Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario) scored twice and Victor Anilane (Gothenburg, Sweden), Ryan McDonald (Prince Albert, Saskatchewan), and Matt Dias (Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario) also found the back of the net. Carias goals extended his point-streak to nine consecutive conference games since joining the Thunderwolves.
UOIT also got goals from Brent Varty, Scott Baker and Ryan Spencer while defenseman Mike Noyes accounted for three assists with Nathan Spaling adding two his own.
Both teams went 2-3 on the powerplay in a relatively free-flowing game during which only 16 penalty minutes were dealt out. The Ridgebacks outshot the Wolves 32-27 as Jason Guy earned the win over Lakeheads Kyle Moir.
The two teams will duke it out again on Saturday night, 7:30 p.m. EST at the Fort William Gardens.