The Lakehead Thunderwolves hockey team lost 3-2 to the Brock Badgers at the Seymour-Hannah Centre in St. Catharines on Friday night.
Lakehead broke its two-game scoringdrought early when Andrew Wilkins beat Badgers goalie Kurt Jory just 25 seconds into the game on a goal assisted by Mitch Maunu and Mitch Fillman. Brocks Anthony Geldart snuck one past Lakehead goalie Alex Dupuis on the powerplay at 16:52 to knot the score at 1-1. Shots on goal in the opening frame were 13-7 in favor of the Badgers.
Brock scored the only goal of a tightly-contested second period when CJ Dixon was awarded a penalty shot at 3:22, a chance in which he capitalized on putting the Badgers ahead by a 2-1 margin. Lakehead outshot Brock 9-8 in the middle stanza.
The Badgers widened their lead to 3-1 when Sean Jones put one past Dupuis at 9:23 of the third period. Lakehead attempted a rally, and when Ryan McDonald scored from Trevor Gamache at 17:03, the Wolves cut the Badgers lead to 3-2. Lakehead applied more pressure late in the game, but was unable to tie things up and force overtime. Shots on goal were 8-7 for Brock in the third period and 29-23 for the Badgers on the night.
The loss is the fourth in a row for Lakehead, which remains in second place in the OUA West Division despite the defeat. The Thunderwolves will head to London next to take on the division-leading Western Ontario Mustangs on Saturday night. The opening face-off is set for 7:30, and will be broadcast live on Rock 94 FM.