The Lakehead Thunderwolves fell 5-4 in overtime against the Waterloo Warriors, Friday night at the Fort William Gardens in Thunder Bay, Ontario.
The first period saw both teams battle for every inch of ice, with Lakehead captain Jordan Smith (Sault St. Marie, ON) and Mitch Maunu (Thunder Bay, ON) setting the tone with some big hits.
After both sides traded chances early on, Mike Quesnele (Sault St. Marie, ON) converted on a beautiful feed from Matt Caria (Sault St. Marie, ON) to put the Wolves up 1-0. The other assist went to Ryan McDonald (Prince Albert, SK).
Kris Hogg (Sicamous, BC) wasted no time scoring his third goal of the year, increasing the Wolves lead to 2-0, just 1:10 into the second period. Andrew Wilkins (Pickering, ON) and Andy Hyvarinen (Thunder Bay, ON) had the assists.
With Caria in the box for slashing, Waterloo defenseman Steve Whitely cut the lead in half with a blistering shot from the point that eluded Lakehead goaltender Alex Dupuis (Thunder Bay, ON) at 6:38 of the second. The pace picked up considerably after that point, and after some nice stops by Dupuis to keep the Wolves in front, Andy Zulyniak (Winnipeg, MB) buried a hard wrister to put the Wolves ahead 3-1. Assists went to Arron Alphonso (Orangeville, ON) and Brock McPherson (Brampton, ON).
Waterloo again crept within one, as Kyle Schwende scored to make it 3-2. The Warriors evened things up at 13:45 of the second as Kurt Thorner put one home to make it 3-3.
Waterloos momentum continued just 1:38 into the third period as forward Kirt Hill scored to put the Warriors up 4-3. The lead was short-lived as Zulyniak scored his second goal of the game at 4:27 of the third on a shot from the point that found its way through traffic. McPherson was credited with the lone assist.
In overtime, Matt Caria took a double minor with just under 3 minutes remaining, leaving Lakehead in a four-on-three shorthanded situation. Dupuis did his best to hold the Warriors at bay, but Waterloo defenseman Kyle Sonnenburg blasted a shot from the point with just eleven seconds on the clock to seal the 5-4 victory.
Leading the way for the Wolves was Andy Zulyniak with two goals and Brock McPherson with two assists.
The second game of the series goes at 7:30 PM, Saturday night at the Fort William Gardens.
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