Senior forward Keith Grondins two goals led the Thunderwolves to a 4-2 victory over the Laurentian Voyageurs in front of 2074 fans at the Fort William Gardens Friday night.
The Wolves came out of the gate quickly, forcing Laurentian goalie Alain Valiquette to make some big saves off Carson Dubchak and Mike Hammond in the opening minutes of the game. But it was the Voyageurs that drew first blood when Nicolas Dionne rifled the puck past Lakehead goalie Jeff Bosch high on the glove side after a defensive breakdown at the 4:43 mark of the first period.
Lakehead replied with two quick goals late in the opening stanza, the first coming from Wolves defenceman Mitch Fillman after receiving a nice pass from Kelin Ainsworth at 16:01. Just over two minutes later, Ainsworth put Lakehead up 2-1 by shoveling a loose puck past Valiquette, with the assists going to Hammond and Mike Quesnele.
Grondin extended the Wolves lead to 3-1 with a hard shot to the top shelf set up by a beautiful cross-ice pass from Cody Alcock just 1:38 into the second period. Lakehead defenceman Andrew Tessier picked up the second helper. Then at the 3:20 mark, Grondin struck again by converting a great pass from Nathan Bruyere to give the Wolves a commanding 4-1 lead, with Fillman picking up the other assist.
Grondins second goal of the night capped off a Lakehead scoring outburst that saw the Wolves score four goals in just over seven minutes of game time.
Lakehead controlled most of the play in the middle frame, but Bosch made some timely saves for the Wolves when called upon.
Laurentians Daniel Pachis narrowed the gap to 4-2 midway through the third period, but Lakehead played solid hockey the rest of the way and went on to record the win.
The Molson Three Stars of the game were:
1.Keith Grondin, Lakehead
2.Mitch Fillman, Lakehead
3.Kelin Ainsworth, Lakehead
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.