The Lakehead Thunderwolves mens hockey fell to the No. 4 Western Mustangs 6-2 Friday night in Game Two of their OUA Quarter Final series at the Thomson Arena in London, Ontario. The loss evens the series at one apiece and it will go to the deciding Game Three Saturday night at 7:00 pm EST in London.
Lakeheads goals came from Joel Scherban and Tobias Whelan while Craig Kennedy led the Wolves with three goals with singles coming from Mike Rice, Chris Rowan, and Ryan Hare. Western outshot Lakehead 38-35 on thenight.
Lakehead struck first at 1:18 of the first when Whelan beat Western goalie Scott Dickie with a high shot; assisted by Dan Speer and Mark Robinson. The Wolves Shandor Alphonso then lost control of the puck when he broke in alone. Westerns Hare intercepted a Lakehead pass and broke in on the breakaway and beat Lakeheads Grant McCune at 6:06 with an unassisted shorthanded goal. The Stangs made it 2-1 on the powerplay at 9:41 when a shot bounced off McCune and off Rice and into the net. Joel Scherban knocked in a rebound on the powerplay off a hard point shot by Matt Jacques. Chris Rowan made it 3-2 Western at 14:05 when he knocked in a rebound off a wraparound attempt by Jamie Chamberlain. Craig Kennedy made it 4-2 Stangs at 16:56 when he beat McCune in a race to the puck and chipped it over the diving Lakehead netminder. Lakehead had a late powerplay but Dickie made a good save to deny Lakeheads Mike Wehrstedt.
The second period saw some more fast action with both netminders making some great saves including a great stick save by McCune to rob the Stangs Piwowarczyck. Western made it 5-2 at 16:42 on the powerplay when a long shot by Mannias was tipped byKennedy and beat McCune, with the other assist going to Sean Scully. Lakeheads McCune then robbed Westerns Sal Peralta on a breakaway and the Mustangs put on the pressure for the final minutes of the second.
Lakehead put netminder Chris Whitley into the goal in the third and he played solidly. The only goal of the third came at 16:26 when Kennedy completed his hat trick beating Whitley high with a backhand shot. The game ended with some rough play on both teams parts set the tone for Saturdays deciding game.
Game Two takes place Friday at the Thomson Arena on the Western Campus in London. Fridays game will be carried on radio in Thunder Bay on 580 CKPR AM and online around the world at www.ckpr.com with Bryan Wyatt calling all the action beginning at 7:00 pm EST.