The Lakehead Thunderwolves were shut out by the York Yeomen 3-0 at the Beatrice Ice Gardens on the York Campus Saturday afternoon. The defeat brings the Thunderwolves record to 3-3-0 and York's record now stands at 3-2-1.
The Yeomen's strong forechecking kept the Thunderwolves off balance for most of the game, not allowing Lakhead too many dangerous scoring opportunities. Lakehead's powerplay went scoreless for the second game in a row, going 0 for 8 today.
The Yeomen came out fast in the first and jumped in the lead at 8:53 on a beautiful powerplay goal by Jason Pinizzotto, assisted by Daryll Bat and Sam Katsuras. The Thunderwolves had some chances during a powerplay advantage on a penalty to York's John Eminger, but York goaltender Derek Dolson made some good saves to deny Lakehead a goal.
The second saw some fast two-way play early with both teams getting some good opportunities. The Yeomen made it 2-0 when Daryll Bat scored a beautiful shorthanded goal at 8:30 by flipping the puck high over Lakehead goaltender Grant McCune. Assists went to Jonathan Hedberg and Sean Murphy. York's Shane Nash made it 3-0 at 13:45 when he intercepted an errant Thunderwolves pass in their own zone, broke in alone on Lakehead's McCune, and took a quick shot which McCune stopped. Nash then pounced on his own rebound and knocked it in.
The third period saw the Thunderwolves miss a golden opportunity early when they couldn't capitalize on a 5 on 3 powerplay situation, with York's Dolson making some great stops to keep Lakehead off the scoreboard. The Thunderwolves applied some pressure over the last 7 minutes of the game, including an unsuccessful last minute breakaway by Robert Hillier, but Lakehead couldn't find a way to put the pack past Dolson on this day.
The Thunderwolves host the Wilfred Laurier Golden Hawks next weekend for a two game series at the Fort William Gardens in Thunder Bay.