The Lakehead Thunderwolves let an early lead slip away and wound up taking a 6-4 loss to the York Lions in front of 2231 fans at the Fort William Gardens Friday night.
Lakeheads E.J. Faust fed Carson Dubchak who had no trouble beating York goalie Chris Perugini from right in front of the Lions net less than three minutes into the game.
Cody Alcock extended the Wolves lead to 2-0 when he stole the puck from a York defender and slid the puck behind Perugini before the midway mark of the opening period. But Yorks Dylan Smoskowitz put two goals past Lakehead netminder Jeff Bosch before the end of the period to deadlock the score at 2-2 heading into the second.
Smoskowitz completed his hat-trick just 20 seconds into the middle frame after pouncing on a giveaway by Lakehead defenceman Mike Quesnele and suddenly the Lions the 3-2 lead.
The Wolves tied it back up at 3-3 when Keith Grondin slammed home a loose puck after some nice work by Kelin Ainsworth, but York replied quickly when Colton Vanucci ripped a slap shot up and over Bosch. Vanucci added another to make it 5-3 for York while the Lions had a five-on-three power play.
Faust tipped a shot by Lakeheads Mitch Fillman past Perugini to narrow the gap to 5-4 with just over six minutes remaining in the second period.
Bosch was forced to leave the game after being shaken up attempting to handle a loose puck along the back boards beside the Lakehead net, and was replaced in the Wolves goal by Justin McDonald.
York didnt waste any time testing the Wolves sophomore puck stopper and restored its two-goal gap when Mitch Van Teeling scored on a high, hard wrist shot, and the second period scoring outburst gave the Lions a 6-4 lead with twenty minutes remaining in the game.
Lakehead controlled most of the play in the third period and had some great scoring chances by Faust, Mike Hammond and Mike Quesnele, but the Wolves just couldnt seem to find the back of the net in the final stanza.
The Molson Three Stars of the game were:
1.Dylan Smoskowitz, York
2.E.J. Faust, Lakehead
3.Colton Vanucci, York
The two teams will hit the ice again for the rematch on Saturday night at the Fort William Gardens, with the opening face-off set for 7:30.