The Lakehead Thunderwolves mens hockey team notched their first regular season win with an exciting and hard fought 3-2 victory Friday night over the Windsor Lancers at the Adie Knox Arena in Windsor. Lakeheads goals came from Jason Lange, Mike Wehrstedt, and Joel Scherban while Alex White and Scott Gibson tallied for the Lancers. The win puts Lakehead at 1-2 in OUA play and 5-5-2 overall while Windsor goes to 2-1 in conference play and 2-7 overall. The Thunderwolves outshot the Lancers 35-19 on the game.
Lakehead Head Coach Pete Belliveau said his team worked hard as a unit to get the win. It was a great team win and our best game in a while. Mike Wehrstedt, Brad Priestlay, Dan Speer, Mark Robinson and Shandor Alphonso worked very hard, followed the game plan, and matched Windsors intensity. It was a big two points and something we can build on.
Windsors White opened the scoring at 6:03 when he beat Lakehead netminder Chris Whitley on the powerplay. Assists went to Jordie Preston and Chad Snihur. The Wolves replied at 13:04, also on the powerplay, when Jason Lange fired a wrist shot from the top of the circle that beat Windsor goalie Jay Ewasiuk 5-hole. The assist went to Mike Jacobsen.
Lakehead took early penalties in the second and Windsor had some pressure but couldnt beat Whitley. The Wolves then went on the powerplay and put on some intense pressure and Ewasiuk made some good stops. Lakeheads Wehrstedt then converted some hard work by himself and Brad Priestlay when he fired the puck over Ewasiuk at 17:32. Lakehead Captain Joel Scherban quickly made it 3-1 Lakehead at 18:18 when he also beat Ewasiuk upstairs.
Lakehead took an early third period penalty but the Lancers couldnt take advantage and it was Ewasiuk who made a good stop off Lakeheads Hugo Lehoux soon after the penalty expired. The Wolves took a minor with 7 minutes left and Windsor made it count when Scott Gibson knocked in a nice pass from Ryan Bresden at 13:28. The other assist went to Snihur. Windsor picked up the pace with time running out but then Kyle Trudell took a double minor for spearing which put the Lancers down and although they pulled Ewasiuk, Lakehead controlled play for the final 30 seconds for the win.
The two teams take to the ice again Saturday night at the Adie Knox Arena at 7:05 pm EST.