The No. 4 Lakehead Thunderwolves mens hockey team skated to a big 4-1 win over the No. 7 Western Mustangs Saturday night at the John Labatt Centre in London, Ontario. The win also gave the Wolves the first annual Jack Frost Trophy, sponsored byAMJ Campbell,a new trophy to be presented annually to the winner of the challenge game between the Stangs and the Wolves at the JLC.
The Wolves are now 23-3-1 in OUA conference play (27-7-1 overall); good for 47 points and the best record in the OUA; regardless of the results of Sundays game against Western. This is the first time in Lakeheads seven seasons of OUA play that they end regular season play with the best record in the conference.
With every win; the Wolves continue to extend their record for most OUA regular season wins. In addition; tonights victory gives Lakehead a new record 11-game OUA regular season winning streak. The win also extends the Wolves regular season road wins record to 11.
The Wolves were led offensively by Dan Speer with a goal and two assists while freshman Pierre-Marc Guilbault notched two goals. Mark Soares scored the other Lakehead goal. Jacob King replied for the Stangs.
Speers three-point night puts him one ahead of SSM line-mate Brock McPherson for the OUA scoring lead with fellow SSM mate Soares sitting in third. Speer has 46 points, Mcpherson 45 points, and Soares 43 points. Westerns Kevin Richardson and UQTRs Mathieu Gravel are close behind in fourth with 42 points.
Lakehead freshman netminder Kyle Moir was sharp; turning aside 24 Western shots. He now raises his OUA record to 7-3-1. Stangs goalie Brad Topping made a number of big saves in the loss. Lakehead outshot Western 34-25 on the night.
Lakehead was 3-5 on the powerplay while Western was 0-5 as the Lakehead penalty kill continued its strong play of late.
The Wolves had the edge in play in the first and were rewarded with goals from Speer at the midway point and Guilbault near the end of the period. Lakehead outshot Western 14-6 in the first.
Lakehead came out flying in the first couple minutes of the second but Western netminder Brad Topping made some excellent saves to deny the Wolves. The Stangs began picking up play at the halfway mark and got on the board at 8:38 on the goal by Jacob King; beating an out of position Kyle Moir in the Lakehead goal.
The goal gave the Stangs life and they then put on the pressure for the next few minutes. Lakehead also had some good chances and both netminders had to come up with some big stops. Lakehead took some late penalties but killed them off nicely. Lakeheads Mark Soares had a great late chance but was robbed by Westerns Topping. Western took a penalty with a second left in the period so Lakehead would begin the third with the man advantage. Western outshot Lakehead 15-12 in the second.
The penalty was costly for the Wolves as Soares scored his 21st of the season 35 seconds into the third period. Western then put on some pressure and the Stangs Jesse Boucher rang the Lakehead post. Lakeheads Soares was then robbed by a big save by the Stangs Topping two minutes later.
Western took a penalty and Lakehead made them pay at 9:40 when Guilbault got his second of the game. Lakehead then put on some sustained pressure and the Stangs Topping had to be sharp. Western got some good opportunities with under three minutes left; but were denied by Lakehead goalie Moir. Lakehead outshot Western 8-4 in the final stanza.
Lakehead finishes off regular season play Sunday against Western at the Thomson Arena in London on Sunday with game time at 2:00 pm EST.
The game can be heard live on CKPR 91.5 FM radio in Thunder Bay with Bryan Wyatt calling the action and Jonas Gilbart handling the pre-game and intermission duties (On the net at www.ckpr.com). Western campus radio