Lakehead's season came to a close when Western's Sal Peralta scored at 1:11 of the first overtime period and gave his No. 5 Mustangs a thrilling 5-4 win over the No. 8 Thunderwolves on Sunday night in London in the deciding game of the OUA West Finals. The Mustangs took the series two games to one and will now host the one-game OUA Queen's Cup Championship game next Saturday in London against UQTR. The Mustangs and UQTR have also qualified for the CIS National Championships in Edmonton.
Mike Rice led the Mustangs with two goals while Lakehead Captain Joel Scherban led the Thunderwolves with two goals. Western's other goals came from Peralta, Kyle Piwowarczyk, and Ryan Hare while Murray Magill and Jason Lange notched Lakehead's other goals. Western goaltender Mike D'Alessandro was very sharp in the win as the Thunderwolves outshot the Mustangs 51-36 on the night.
This is the third year in a row that a Lakehead and Western playoff series has gone to OT in the deciding game at the Thompson Arena in London. However, the previous two series had seen Lakehead come out the OT victor. Lakehead and Western have now met in the playoffs in each of Lakehead's four seasons of play and the teams are now tied at two series apiece.
Lakehead ends the season with a combined OUA record of 20-10-1 and an overall record of 28-18-2-1.
Game Summary:
GOALS BY PERIOD
1 2 3 4 Total
Western 1 2 1 1 5
Lakehead 0 2 2 0 4
Scoring Summary:
Period #1
Western - Rice (Hare, Peralta) - 00:16
Period #2
Western - Rice (Eade ) - PP 03:19
Lakehead - Lange ( ) - 03:48
Lakehead - Magill (Lange ) - PP 11:15
Western - Piwowarczyk (Paddon ) - 19:34
Period #3
Western - Hare (Rice, Paddon) - 00:29
Lakehead - Scherban (Wycisk, Lodge) - PP 08:43
Lakehead - Scherban (Rawski, Brown) - 16:30
Overtime
Western - Peralta (Paddon ) - 01:11
SHOTS BY PERIOD
1 2 3 4 Total
Western 14 12 9 1 36
Lakehead 14 15 18 4 51
Penalty Summary:
Period #1
Western - Thompson (Int) , 2 min , 15:18
Period #2
Lakehead - Robinson (Int) , 2 min , 02:15
Western - Richardson (Bdg) , 2 min , 10:15
Lakehead - Magill (Hkg) , 2 min , 15:19
Period #3
Western - Boucher (Elb) , 2 min , 00:44
Lakehead - Rawski (Hkg) , 2 min , 03:27
Lakehead - Lodge (Cc) , 2 min , 05:01
Western - Rice (Hkg) , 2 min , 08:36
Western - Held (Ro) , 2 min , 16:54
Western - Bannan (Raw) , 2 min , 16:54
Lakehead - Richards (Sp) , 2 min , 16:54
Lakehead - Richards (Sp) , 2 min , 16:54