The Lakehead Thunderwolves held on to take down the Western Ontario Mustangs 4-3 before a crowd of 1,781 in game #1 of the OUA West Division quarter-finals at the Fort William Gardens on Wednesday night.
The Wolves were all over the Mustangs in the first period and jumped out to an early lead when E.J. Faust scored on Western goalie Greg Dodds 8:49 into the game, with Matt Kaarela and Justin Sefton picking up the assists.
Nathan Cull batted in his own rebound two minutes later, and then after being set up by Luke Maw and Ryan Magill, Cull scored again while crashing into the net at 15:33 to put the Wolves up 3-0.
Dodds was injured in the collision and had to be replaced in the Mustangs goal by Marc Nother.
Lakehead extended its lead to 4-0 when Austin McDonald found Mike Hammond all alone in front of Nother at 7:50 of the second period.
Western Ontarios Trevor Warnaar got one past Wolves netminder Justin McDonald at the 12:04 mark to narrow Lakeheads lead to 4-1 heading into the third.
Trent Ouelletteclosed the gap to 4-2 at 6:39 of the final frame, and then with the Mustangs on the power play, Jake Worrads wrist shot found its way through traffic to cut Lakeheads lead to one goal with 6:29 remaining on the clock.
Lakehead tightened up defensively and Justin McDonald made some timely saves to preserve the victory for the Thunderwolves.
Total shots on goal were 42-36 in favor of the Mustangs.
The Molson Three Stars of the game were:
1.Nathan Cull, Lakehead
2.E.J. Faust, Lakehead
3.Justin McDonald, Lakehead
The Wolves will hit the road where they will look to finish off the Mustangs in game #2 of the best-of-three series on Saturday afternoon in London. If necessary, game #3 will be played in London on Sunday evening.