The Lakehead Thunderwolves dominated the Waterloo Warriors 7-3, Saturday night at the Fort William Gardens in Thunder Bay, Ontario.
The first period saw Lakehead come out a little tentative as Waterloo controlled the play early and took the lead 4:15 into the opening frame on a goal from forward Jarrett Schnurr. After the early Waterloo goal, the Thunderwolves settled down and after some nice stops by Warrior goalie Keaton Hartigan, Lakehead evened things up at 6:53 of the first on a goal by Andrew Wilkins (Pickering, ON) who found himself all alone in front of the net. The assist went to Brennan Menard (Thunder Bay, ON). Wilkins tally injected some new life into the Wolves and then Mike Quesnele (Sault St. Marie, ON) scored his third goal of the season at 8:20 of the first period to put the home team in front 2-1. Assists went to Adam Sergerie (Thunder Bay, ON) and Matt Caria (Sault St. Marie, ON).
The Thunderwolves came out firing on all cylinders in the second, energized by a more involved crowd, and playing a much more physical brand of hockey. It took only 49 seconds for Kris Hogg (Sicamous, BC) to increase Lakeheads lead to 3-1 on a nice wrist shot that careened off Hartigans glove and in. The assist went to Andy Hyvarinen (Thunder Bay, ON). Lakehead padded its lead to 4-1 on the power play when Ryan McDonald (Prince Albert, SK) buried a rebound at 2:23 of the second, with assists going to Quesnele and Sergerie.
Jarrett Schnurr scored his second goal of the game for the visiting Warriors on the power play at 5:42 of the second period, cutting the Wolves lead to 4-2.
The third period saw Lakehead continue their physical play, making Waterloo work for every inch of ice. Mike Quesnele continued his hot start to the season, scoring his second goal of the game on a five-on-three power play at 6:22. Assists went to Kalvin Sagert (Abbotsford, BC) and Matt Caria. Arron Alphonso (Orangeville, ON) scored his first goal of season at 9:10 of the third period on a laser wrist shot, putting the Thunderwolves up 6-2. The assist went to Trevor Gamache (Thunder Bay, ON). Brock McPherson (Brampton, ON) put the game well out of reach at 16:27 of the third period on a rocket one-timer, assisted by Mitch Maunu (Thunder Bay, ON). Chris Ray got one for Waterloo with 23 seconds left on the clock, but it was too little too late.
Leading the way for Lakehead was Mike Quesnele with two goals and one assist, and Matt Caria and Adam Sergerie with two assists each.
The Thunderwolves are in Windsor next weekend to take on the Lancers.