The Lakehead Thunderwolves began the second half of the OUA season on a winning note by upending the Windsor Lancers 3-1 before 1,681 fans at the Fort William Gardens on a frigid Friday night in Thunder Bay.
Chris Scott put the Lancers up 1-0 on a screened shot from the top of the face-off circle on a Windsor power play just over three minutes into the game, but that would be the only rubber to find its way past Wolves’ goalie Nic Renyard for the rest of the night.
Lakehead evened the score 4:27 into the second on a nifty wraparound goal by Trevor Hynnes, with Austin McDonald getting the assist.
The Thunderwolves took the lead with 2:05 left in the middle frame when Cooper Leitch took advantage of a Windsor giveaway and fed Grant Valiquette in the slot, who made no mistake firing the biscuit behind Lancers’ goalie Blake Richard.
Brennen Dubchak got the insurance marker at 7:19 of the third period to put the Wolves up 3-1, scoring from the doorstep while the Wolves held the man-advantage, with Jake Ringuette and Dillon Donnelly picking up the helpers.
With Lakehead’s Scott Gall in the penalty box in the final minutes of the game, Windsor pulled the goalie to give the Lancers a two-man advantage, but they were unable to solve Renyard and the Wolves held on for the win.
On the night, the Thunderwolves were 1-for-2 on the power play while the Lancers went 1-for-3.
Total shots on goal in the game were 26-24 in Lakehead’s favor.
With the victory, Lakehead improves its OUA record to 7-8-1 and to 10-11-1 overall.
The Molson Three Stars of the game were:
1. Trevor Hynnes, Lakehead
2. Nic Renyard, Lakehead
3. Grant Valiquette, Lakehead
The Thunderwolves will look to collect another two points when they square off against the Lancers again at the Fort William Gardens on Saturday night.