The No. 9 ranked Lakehead Thunderwolves swept the Wilfred Laurier Golden Hawks by notching a 5-1 victory Saturday night before 3257 fans at Fort William Gardens in Thunder Bay. The Thunderwolves were lead by Chris Shaffer who recorded the hat trick, and the great goaltending of Cory McEachran. The Thunderwolves had beaten the Hawks 8-4 on Friday evening in the first game of the series. Shaffer recorded 5 goals and1 assist in the two games to lead the Thunderwolves offense. The win raises the Thunderwolves OUA record to 5-3-0, and puts the Golden Hawks at 3-4-0 in conference play.
The first period featured some disciplined hard-nosed hockey by both teams, with Lakehead having the edge in play and dangerous scoring chances. Hawk's goalkeeper Justin Day was sharp until 11:39, when Lakehead's Chris Shaffer scored a very heads-up goal. Shaffer had broken in on Day and Day had made a great save,but Day's goalstick went flying into the right corner after Shaffer and he collided in front of the net. Laurier could not clear the puck, nor get Day's stick back to him, and Shaffer got the puck back and shot it quickly along the ice and through Day's legs. Assists went to Tyler Williamson and Hugo Lehoux. Lakehead outshot Laurier 9-4 in the first period.
Laurier came out strong in the first 5 minutes of the second, but were robbed twice by Lakehead goaltender Cory MacEachran on two great sliding pad saves. The period then opened up with some fast two-way play. Lakehead's Erik Lodge made it 2-0 at 14:59 when he knocked in a loose puck in a scrum in front of Laurier's Day. Assists went to Wyatt Tunnicliffe and Murray Magill. Lakehead's Chris Shaffer made it 3-0 when heknocked in his second goal at 17:23, snapping a rebound between Day's legs, assisted by Jason Lange.
Laurier scored quickly to open the third, on a goal by Richard Colwill at the 54 second mark, assisted by Kevin Corso and Richard Hwodeky. Lakehead Captain Joel Scherban made it 4-1 at 3:53, when he flipped the puck over the Hawk's sprawled goaltender. The assist went to Shawn Perring. Lakehead goalie MacEachran made a great stop off Laurier's Pat McCoubrey who broke in all alone at the 6:43 mark.. The Thunderwolves then took control of play in the second half of the period, and Chris Shaffer completed his hat trick at 11:21 to make it 5-1. Shaffer scored on a beautiful tic-tac-toe passing play set up by Jason Lange and Jeff Adduono.
Lakehead Head Coach Pete Belliveau was happy with his team's effort.
"We rolled four lines all night, played well away from the puck, and the guys competed hard the whole game.Cory MacEachran played great in goal, and Chris Shaffer was really finding the net this weekend."
Laurier Head Coach Mark French enjoyed the atmosphere and the big crowds at the Fort William Gardens, but was disappointed with the results of the series. "We were undermanned. I really appreciated the guys' efforts. Lakehead was opportunistic and took advantage of their chances. Their goaltender MacEachran deserves a pat on the back, he played really well."
The Three Stars, as picked by the Thunder Bay Post's Managing Editor Leith Dunick, were:
1) Lakehead's Chris Shaffer, with 3 goals.
2) Lakehead goaltender Cory MacEachran.
3) Lakehead's Jason Lange with 2 assists.
My Twolves Shout-Outs goes to Shawn Perring for disrupting two breakaways and getting an assist and to Matt Kenny for blocking shots!!!!
Lakehead outshot Laurier 37-24. Lakehead heads to Toronto next weekend to take on the Ryerson Rams on Saturday and Sunday.