After a close Friday night win, the Lakehead Thunder mens hockey left little doubt of victory as they knocked off the Toronto Varsity Blues 5-1, Saturday night, at the Fort William Gardens in Thunder Bay. With the win, the Wolves improve to 8-3-1 in OUA play and sit one point back of the Western Mustangs in the cramped OUA West Division.
Five players scored for the hosts, including Brock McPherson who scored number 13 on the year and blueliner Pierre-Marc Guilbault who has seven goals to lead all OUA defensemen. Mark Soares, Victor Anilane and Ryan Baird also tallied for Lakehead.
Torontos lone goal came courtesy of David Mooney.
After 19:58 of fast-paced but scoreless first period hockey, Brock McPherson notched the first marker of the night with a near buzzer beater past Toronto netminder Russ Brownell. The powerplay goal came on assists from Jordan Smith and Dan Speer.
After Soares scored a chippy goal at 8:05 of the second period, Lakehead appeared to have taken complete control until Mooney beat Lakehead goalie Kyle Moir at 17:48 on assists from Matt Walters and Byron Elliott.
One minute later, the Wolves restored their two-goal advantage when Guilbault scored the Wolves second powerplay goal on a pass from Scott Dobben.
Lakehead wrapped up the nights scoring early in the final frame on Anilanes wraparound tally at 3:25, followed 44 seconds later by Bairds first lamp-lighter since scoring twice in the teams preseason opener, October 2 against Guelph.
Moir made 28 saves for the win, one night after backing up Alex Dupuis. The junior netminder from Calgary improves to 7-3-0 in conference play with the steady effort. The Blues Brownell made 44 saves on 49 shots in taking the loss.
Lakehead hits the road next weekend when they travel to Kingston for Friday and Saturday games against the RMC Paladins.