The No. 3 Lakehead Thunderwolves defeated the RMC Paladins 12-2 Friday night night before 3098 fans at the Fort William Gardens in Thunder Bay. The win raises Lakehead's record to 7-1-0 in OUA play (11-2-0 overall). The loss drops RMC's record to 0-9-0-1 in OUA play (3-12-0 overall). Lakehead unleashed 53 shots on the Paladins in the game.
Lakehead was lead by Bryan Duce, Jeff Richards, Joel Scherban, and Steve Rawski. Duce scored 3 goals, Richards notched a goal and four assists, while Scherban and Rawski each had a goal and 3 assists. Chris Shaffer had 2 goals and an assist, Mike Wehrstedt 2 goals, and Matt Kenny had 3 assists. RMC's goals came from Trevor Orriss and Jordan Woodman.
Lakehead's Steve Rawski put the Thunderwolves on the board at 4:25, with his second goal, assisted by Joel Scherban and Jeff Richards. Bryan Duce quickly made it 2-0 at 5:57, knocking in a rebound kicked out by RMC goaltender Blair Robertson. Assists went to Jounni Kuokkanen and Matt Kenny. Lakehead's Cory McEachran came up with a nice save off RMC's Trevor Oriss and then McEachran snared the rebound shot off the Paladins' Nick Cregan and 10:20. Lakehead's Jeff Richards made it 3-0 at 11:51 converting on a beautiful two-on-one pass from Murray Magill. The Thunderwolves went up 4-0 at 13:03 when Joel Scherban neatly deflected a point shot between his legs and over Robertson's shoulder. The assists went to Matt Kenny and Richards. Robertson then made a great save off Lakehead's Mike Wehrstedt who broke in all alone on the RMC netminder.
Lakehead's Magill made it 5-0 at 15:46, assisted by Mike Self. This goal caused RMC Coach Kelly Nobes to replace Robertson in goal with Elliot Mould. Trevor Orriss put the Paladins on the board at 17:50, beautifully deflecting a point shot past a screened Cory McEachran. Lakehead's Chris Shaffer then crushed Mathew Reid with an open ice hit, scooped up the puck and snapped it past RMC netminder Mould to make it 6-1 Lakehead at 18:29. Assists went to Richards and Scherban. Happily, Reid returned to the action later in the game. Lakehead outshot RMC 16-6 in the first period.
The second period started with Lakehead peppering RMC's Mould who came up with a series of fine saves. Unfortunately for Mould, he couldn't stop them all, as Mike Wehrstedt made it 7-1 at 1:25, assisted by Leon Cooper and Steve Rawski. RMC's Jordan Woodman made it 7-2 at 3:20, assisted by Michael Clark. Lakehead struck back quickly at 3:41, when Chris Shaffer knocked in a rebound off a shot by Scherban. The other assist went to Rawski. Lakehead's Wehrstedt got his second of the game at 4:22, with assists going to Richards and Rawski. Mould then made another series of good saves off the Thunderwolves, including a breakaway save off Chris Shaffer. Bryan Duce then made it 10-2 at 12:01, assisted by Kuokkanen and Lange. Lakehead outshot RMC 24-4 in the second.
The third started with RMC's Mould making another series of good saves. Lakehead's Duce made it 11-2 at 11:06 on a beautiful individual effort, assisted by Mike Jacobsen. Mould was kept busy thoughout the period and actually made quite a few good stops. The Paladins went on the powerplay at the 16:00 mark and got off quite a few good shots at Lakehead's McEachran. Lakehead's Mike Jacobsen ended the scoring at 19:49 on the powerplay, blasting it past Mould with a hard slapshot from the point. Assists went to Matt Kenny and Craig Priestlay. Shots in the third were 13-6 for Lakehead. Final shots were 53-16 for Lakehead.
The Molson's Three Stars, as selected by Dave Trifunov of the Chronicle Journal newspaper, were:
1)Lakehead: Bryan Duce
2)Lakehead: Steve Rawski
3)Lakehead: Jeff Richards
My Thunderwolves Shout-Outs go out to all the FANS who chucked Teddy Bears onto the ice after Lak