The Lakehead Thunderwolves throttled the Waterloo Warriors 9-3 on Saturday night at the Fort William Gardens in Thunder Bay, ON in front of a crowd of 2,855.
Mike Quesnele set the tone early in opening frame with two thundering hits on a pair of Waterloo forwards.
Adam Sergerie opened the scoring at 4:27 of the first after Matt Caria brought the puck in and fed Sergerie who was stationed below the goal-line and beat Warriors goalie Keaton Hartigan from a bad angle. Mike Hammond had the other assist.
Ryan Magill increased Lakeheads lead a short time later after he found a loose puck in the slot. Magill made no mistake and drilled a slapper past Hartigan. Keith Grondin and Jason Grecica were credited with the assists.
Adam Sergerie continued the Wolves onslaught in the opening period as he tucked the puck past Hartigan at the side of the net, giving Lakehead a 3-0 lead. Caria and Chris de la Lande had the assists on the goal at 10:11 of the first.
Jay Gilbert put Lakehead in front 4-0 on a hard slap-shot from the point at 11:25, assisted by Matt Caria.
Ryan Magill fired a wrister over Hartigans shoulder at 18:24 of the first to give Lakehead a commanding 5-0 lead after the opening frame. Victor Anilane and Jason Grecica had the assists.
In the second period, Luke Judson blocked a Warrior shot and took it the length of the ice and picked the top corner on Hartigan, who was forced to continue playing in the onslaught with their video coach dressed as an emergency back-up.
Mike Hammond and Matt Caria added goals in the second giving Lakehead an 8-0 lead heading into the third period.
Waterloo finally got on the board halfway through the final frame on the power play when Kain Allicock jammed a loose puck past Wolves goaltender Alex Dupuis with Mike MacDonald in the box for slashing.
The Warriors added another goal at 12:01 on a delayed penalty call against Wolves defenceman Chris de la Lande, as Jarred Parent just squeaked one through Dupuis pads making it 8-2 for Lakehead.
Waterloos Justin Larson fired one past Dupuis with the Warriors once again on the power play to pull the Warriors to within five goals.
Sergerie added a late marker for Lakehead when he broke in on a two-on-one with Mike Hammond, kept the puck, outwaited the Warrior defenceman and slipped the puck past Hartigan.
Sergerie ended the game with three goals and one assist, while Matt Caria recorded one goal and tallied five assists in an impressive offensive display for the Thunderwolves.
The Molson 3 Stars of the game:
1st Adam Sergerie, Lakehead
2nd Matt Caria, Lakehead
3rd Ryan Magill, Lakehead
The win improves the Wolves OUA record to 16-8-2 and vaults them into second place in the West Division.
Lakehead is on the road next weekend to close out the regular season against Brock on Friday night and Waterloo on Saturday.