Mike Wehrstedts goal at 10:18 of the second overtime gave the Lakehead Thunderwolves mens hockey team a hard fought 4-3 OT win over the York Lions Saturday at the Canlan Ice Sports Arena in Toronto and the win gives the Wolves a 2-0 sweep in their OUA West first round playoff series. It was the sixth consecutive game in three consecutive years of playoffs that these two teams had gone to OT to settle the score and was the second consecutive game that Wehrstedt scored the OT winner. The Wolves move on to the OUA West semi-finals against either the Laurier Golden Hawks or the Waterloo Warriorsand that series will begin Wednesday night at the Fort William Gardens in Thunder Bay. Brock and Western are tied 1-1 in their OUA First Round Series with Game 3 Sunday at Western. IfWestern wins; Lakehead will play Laurier on Wednesday; if Brock wins; the Wolves will play Waterloo.
Andrew Brown led the Wolves with a pair of goals while Lakeheads other tallies came from Mark Soares and Wehrstedt. Kent Merriam led the Lions with two goals while Jesse Grespan notched a single. Lakehead now has a 15-10-3-2 overall OUA record (18-17-3-2 overall); while York ends the season with a 13-12-3-2 OUA record and a 15-19-3-2 overall mark. Shots were officially listed as 59-44 for York.
The first period saw both Lakehead goaltender Chris Whitley and York netminder Kevin Druce make some great saves. York had a very dangerous opportunity at 7:53 when a shot dribbled onto the goal line but Lakehead forward Tobias Whelan fired the puck out before a Lion could pounce on it.
There were goals aplenty in the second beginning at 1:08 when Mark Soares beat Yorks Druce with a hard wrist shot. The Lions tied it at 8:37 on the powerplay when Jesse Grespan scored; assisted by Tyler Harrison. The Wolves Brown gave the lead back to Lakehead at 9:01 on the powerplay, when he jumped on a rebound and beat Druce. Brown scored again at 12:46 on a beautiful unassisted effort when he outmuscled a York defenseman and cut in front of the York goal and slid it past Druce. The Lions clawed back at 16:18 on a powerplay tally by Kent Merrian as his shot from the side of the net deflected off Lakeheads Whitley and into the goal.
Merriam got his second of the game for the Lions at 10:21 of the third when he knocked in a juicy puck sitting on the goal line after Lakeheads Whitley had made the original save. With the score tied; both teams had some good opportunities but both Lakeheads Whitley and Yorks Druce were sharp to send the game into overtime.
Lakeheads Whitley made two fine saves in a row early in the first OTto rob Yorks Tyler Harrison and Jesse Grespan. Lakehead then put on some pressure and Yorks Druce made a series of good saves. Druce then made another fine save off a hard point shot by the Wolves Andy Zulyniak. York then returned the pressure and Whitley had to make another solid save. Action went back to the York end and the Wolves buzzed the Lions goal and Lakeheads Dan Speer was stopped twice; by a York d-man and then by Druce.
Druce followed with a great save off a hard shot by the Wolves Brown. Yorks Blair Grennier then intercepted a shot and fired a hard shot at the Wolves Whitley who handled it and moved it up the ice. The Wolves kept up the pressure and Druce came up with another save off Brown. The Wolves line of Mike Wehrstedt, Brown, and Brock McPherson buzzed the Lions goal for the final minute but could not beat Druce.
Lakehead came close early in the second OT when a Mike Wehrstedt deflection just missed. Yorks Druce then stopped Dan Speer who broke in on a 2-on-1 with Mark Soares. Druce then made a good save off the Wolves Mark Robinson. The Wolves Wehrstedt then fired a rocket over the York goal. Yorks Tyler Harrison and Matt Passfield then did some good forechecking and kept the Wolves pinned for a span.
The Wolves then took the puck back into the Yo