The Lakehead Thunderwolves were defeated 7-4 by the Waterloo Warriors at the Columbia Ice Field in Kitchener-Waterloo on Friday night.
Riley Sonnenburg gave Waterloo the early lead by putting the puck past Lakehead goalie Justin McDonald just 3:40 into the game, but Jake Wright evened the score with a shot that beat Warriors netminder Mike Morrison with the Wolves on the power play at 15:06. Mike Hammond and Nathan Bruyere were credited with the assists.
Waterloo regained the lead with a Stephen Silas marker 1:31 into the second stanza, but Matt Kaarela replied for Lakehead after receiving a feed from Cody Alcock at 6:52 to tie the game at 2-2.
Andrew Smith put the Warriors back in front three minutes later, and then Sonnenburg struck twice later in the period to complete his hat-trick and give Waterloo a 5-2 lead after 40 minutes of play.
Riley Corbin, Lakeheads third goalie on the depth chart and dressed due to an injury to Jeff Bosch, took over in the Wolves net to begin the third period. Corbin received his OUA baptism under fire as Waterloos Smith scored his second goal of the night just 16 seconds into the final frame, and then Colin Behenna found the twine at 5:48 to put the Warriors up 7-2.
Keith Grondin answered for Lakehead at 6:12 with Hammond and Wright collecting the helpers, and Ryan Magill closed out the scoring for the Wolves after being set up by Nathan Cull and Carson Dubchak with only 11 seconds remaining on the clock.
Shots on goal in the game were 40-27 for the Thunderwolves.
Lakehead will remain in the Kitchener area to close out the regular season against the Laurier Golden Hawks on Saturday night in a game that the Wolves must win in order to qualify for the playoffs.