The Waterloo Warriors skated to a 4-2 win over the No. 6 Lakehead Thunderwolves Saturday night before 2892 fans at the Fort William Gardens in Thunder Bay. Waterloo's Shawn Germain led the way for the Warriors with a goal and two assists while Jordan Brenner, Sean Roche, and Matt Levicki. Lakehead's goals came from Austin Wycisk and Mike Self. Lakehead outshot Waterloo 40-26 in the game.
The Thunderwolves showed good hustle in the first and controlled play for most of the period. Lakehead's Brad Priestlay came close two minutes in after a nice set up by a nice pass by Mike Wehrstedt. Waterloo struck first at 2:48 when Dave Philpott's low soft roller found its way through the pads of Lakehead's Chris Whitley. Assists went to Shawn Germaine. Lakehead's Tobias Whelan then had a great opportunity when he broke in and fired it high over Curtis Darling's shoulder and over the Waterloo net. The Warriors went on the powerplay at the 9:00 mark and then drew another a minute later. Lakehead killed off both with some excellent penalty killing. Lakehead then put on some pressure and fired a couple shots at Waterloo's Darling. Lakehead went on the powerplay with 3:40 left, and Lakehead's Dene Poulin fired a rocket that Darling stopped neatly with his left pad. Darling then made a great stop of Lakehead's Jason Lange with 11 seconds left to end the period. Lakehead outshot Waterloo 15-5 in the first.
The second period was full of action. Waterloo started the second on the offensive and Lakehead's Whitley came up with two good stops off the Warriors' Kevin Hurley Philpott. The Wolves went on the powerplay at the 3:00 mark but it was Waterloo's Adam Metherel who had the first good chance when he broke in on Whitley but the Wolves' netminder deflected it wide with a fast blocker. Lakehead's Andrew Brown then broke in from the left side and fired a shot that Darling got a piece of it. Waterloo kept Lakehead pinned in the Wolves' end until Francis Walker set up Tobias Whelan all alone but Whelan couldn't beat Darling with the deke. Whelan then wheeled past three Warriors and fired a shot off the Waterloo crossar. Waterloo then went up the ice and Waterloo's Doug Spooner fired a quick wrister through a crowd that Whitley neatly gloved. Whitley then went out to play the puck, hesitated and tried to get back to his net but Waterloo's Sean Roche got to the puck along the boards and fired it into the empty Lakehead goal at 9:25. Assists went to Chris Hopuiavari and Germain. Lakehead got on the board at 10:48 when Austin Wycisk jumped on a loose puck in the Waterloo end and fired it past Darling from the left side. The assist went to Whelan. Lakehead went on the powerplay and Mike Self tied it up at 12:00 when he fired from the point and it went through a crowd and trickled through Darling's legs. Assists went to Whelan and Wycisk.
Lakehead then went a man down and Matt Levicki was fed a long lead pass and broke in alone on Whitely and beat him on the backhand at 14:22. The assist went to Germain. Lakehead put on the pressure with a few minutes remaining and then Waterloo was called for a minor. The last two minutes featured quite a few hard hits from both sides. Shots were 13-12 Lakehead in the second.
Waterloo came out fast to begin the third and Lakehead's Whitley had to make two good saves in succession off Ryan MacGregor and Geoff Rivers. Play then went end to end and both teams had some good opportunities. Waterloo's Hurley blasted one from the slot that just missed to the right with 12 minutes left. Waterloo's Darling then made an incredible toe save to rob Lakehead's Whelan and then Whelan fired high with the rebound. Lakehead put on the pressure as the Warriors were content to play the trap. The Wolves kept control of the puck but had difficulty getting sho