The Waterloo Warriors defeated the Lakehead Thunderwolves 4-1 before 2797 fans at the Fort William Gardens in Thunder Bay. Penalties proved very costly as all of Waterloo's goals came on the powerplay in a game that Lakehead outshot, outhit, and outworked the Warriors for most of the game. Mike Della Mora led the Warriors with two goals while singles came from Alex MacDonnell and Matt Levicki. Dene Poulin scored for the Thunderwolves. Lakehead outshot Waterloo 40-30 in the game.
Play started in the Waterloo end for the first two minutes. Lakehead's Jason Lange was hooked down by Waterloo's Alex MacDonnell and MacDonnell broke in on Lakehead netminder Chris Whitley and fired it over the Wolves' goal. Lakehead's Mike Wehrstedt then had a good chance in front of the Waterloo goal but was denied by Warriors' netminder Curtis Darling. Lakehead's Leon Cooper then broke in from the right side and fired a backhander that Darling blocked with his left pad. Lakehead's Jason Lange then fanned on a beautiful set up by Tobias Whelan.
Lakehead went on the powerplay six minutes in and Darling made two good saves off Lakehead's Andrew Brown and Francis Walker. He followed with a great save off a blistering one-timer by Hugo Lehoux. Waterloo then went on the powerplay and MacDonnell fired a low shot from the point that beat a screened Whitley at 9:11, assisted by Dave Philpott and Adam Metherel. Waterloo's Darling then made another great reaction save off a shot that changed direction off his own defenseman. Lakehead went down a man with 8 minutes left and Lakehead's Whitley came up with big saves off Waterloo's Metherel and Sean Roche.
The Wolves went on the powerplay with 4:30 left but the Wolves only managed a wrist shot by Steve Rawski that went over Darling's head. Lakehead finally got on the board at 18:57 when Jouni Kuokkanen did some great stickhandling to keep the puck in the Waterloo end and then passed to a wheeling Dene Poulin who cut in front of the Warriors' goal and beat Darling five-hole. Lakehead drew a minor with 15 second left to end the period. Lakehead outshot Waterloo 13-9 in the first.
Lakehead drew another minor to begin the second, going to men down, and Lakehead's Whitley had to make two good saves off Jordan Brenner and Metherel. One of the Lakehead players came out of the penalty box just as Waterloo's Mike Della Mora picked up the loose puck in front of the Lakehead goal and flipped it over a sprawled Whitley at 1:53. Assists went to Metherel and Philpott. Lakehead then had the man advantage and Waterloo's Darling made a good save off a point blast by Lakehead's Poulin. Darling then made an incredible screened save to rob Lakehead's Whelan who blasted a hard shot from the slot. The Wolves went on the powerplay again at the seven minute mark but couldn't capitalize.
Lakehead then kept the Warriors pinned in their end for three minutes finally resulting in a desperate Waterloo penalty. The Wolves fired about half a dozen shots over the Waterloo goal but couldn't seem to hit the net. A Dene Poulin point shot bounced wildly off the backboards and off Darling's back and across the empty net but no Lakehead player was there to knock it in. Darling then came up with two good saves off charging Lakehead d-man Hugo Lehoux. Waterloo picked it up in the last two minutes and Kevin Hurley was robbed by a quick pad save by Lakehead's Whitley with 1:35 left. The period ended with Lakehead's Mike Wehrstedt hitting the post and then missing on the rebound. Waterloo drew a minor at the horn so would start the third shorthanded. Lakehead outshot Waterloo 16-7 in the second.
Lakehead started out on the powerplay and Jounni Kuokkanen had a glorious chance when he jumped on a rebound and fired it just wide as Waterloo's Darling was down on the ice. Lakehead kept up furious pressure for the first five minutes and Darling made more good saves to hold the Water