Mark Soares and his potent scoring linemates of Lakeheads SSM Line helped lead their No. 5 Thunderwolves mens hockey team to a hard-fought 4-3 win over the Toronto Varsity Blues Sunday afternoon at the Varsity Arena in Toronto.
Soares led the way with two goals (his 10th in the past four games) while his SSM Line-mates Brock McPherson added two assists and Dan Speer dished out a helper. Captain Andrew Brown also scored for Lakehead. The Wolves defense also added some offense asPierre-Marc Guilbaultscored for the D-Corps. Lakehead netminder Chris Whitley played another strong game; raising his record to a perfect 13-0 in OUA play.
Joe Rand, Craig McDonald, and Ed Snetzinger scored for the Blues with the talented Snetzinger also picking up an assist.
The win gives the Wolves a 3-0 record on their three-games-in-three-days road trip as they had defeated Waterloo on Friday and Saturday. The win was also Lakeheads seventh consecutive conference win; all coming in 2008.
The Wolves are now 19-3-1 OUA mark in conference play (23-7-1 overall) and they sit three points up on Western for first place in the OUA Far West Division while Toronto is 12-12-1 in OUA action and sit two points behind Queens for first place in the OUA Mid East Division.
Shots on goal were 24-16 for the Blues. Lakehead was 3-6 with the man advantage while Toronto was 2-5.
Scoring didnt begin until the second when Soares and Rand exchanged goals followed by Lakehead goals from Guilbault and Soares second. Toronto came out hard in the third and the Wolves looked tired as it looked like their road trip was beginning to take its toll. Toronto was rewarded when McDonald made it 3-2 at 3:20 and the Blues put on sustained pressure on the Wolves. Lakehead finally responded with the goal from Zulyniak at 14:15 but Lakehead took a penalty and the Blues answered back on Snetzingers goal at 15:29. Toronto kept up the pressure and Whitley stood tall in Lakeheads goal. Toronto pulled goalie Russ Brownell in the last minute and the Blues took a timeout with 25 seconds left and the face-off coming up in the Lakehead zone. However, the Wolves hung on for the very tough win.
Lakehead returns home next weekend for a crucial two-game home-stand against their divisional rivals from Laurier. The series will be the last regular season home games for the Wolves before another grueling three-game road trip to end the regular season. Both games against Laurier go next Friday and Saturday night at 7:30 pm EST and will be videowebcast live on the News-cast.com Sports Network from Thunder Bay with ordering info available at http://events.news-cast.com/events/Lakehead. Alan Wickware, the home voice of Lakehead Thunderwolves Hockey, will be calling the play-by-play with Lakehead Sports Information Director Mike Aylward handling the colour.
Game Summary:
Lakehead 4 at Toronto 3 - Jan 27, 2008 Varsity Arena, Toronto.
1st Period
Scoring - No Scoring
Penalties - D. Welsh Lak (roughing) 3:15, C. McDonald Toro (unsportsmanlike cnd.) 3:15, A. Kizito Toro (holding opp. stick) 4:44, K. Hogg Lak (high sticking) 11:55
2nd Period
Scoring -
1. Lakehead, M. Soares (17) (D. Speer, B. McPherson) 4:42 PP
2. Toronto, J. Rand (8) (E. Snetsinger, M. Heatley) 12:13 PP
3. Lakehead,Pierre-MarcGuilbault (1) (B. McPherson) 13:42 PP
4. Lakehead, M. Soares (18) (J. Smith, P. Guilbault) 14:26 PP
Penalties - D. Speer Lak (high sticking) 0:54, K. Martiniuk Toro (roughing) 3:02, M. Maunu Lak (interference) 4:55, A. Pallotta Toro (boarding) 5:33, T. Whelan Lak (boarding) 11:29, S. Duffy Toro (roughing) 13:03, A. Nagribianko Toro (kneeing) 13:39
3rd Period
Scoring