The Lakehead Thunderwolves lost 4-3 in overtime to the Ottawa Gee Gees on Saturday night in front of 2413 fans at the Fort William Gardens in Thunder Bay.
It was the second night in a row that the Wolves fell to Ottawa in overtime by the identical score.
The Wolves got off to a rocky start when Lakehead defenceman Mike Quesnele was assessed a five-minute major and a game misconduct for charging early in the first period.
The Wolves were able to kill off the penalty, and soon after Jake Carrick fired a hard wrist shot that eluded Ottawa goalie Warren Shymko. The assists went to Mike Hammond and Andrew Wilkins.
Lakehead came out playing very physical in the second period, including a big hit by Wilkins.
The Wolves increased their lead to 2-0 on the power play when a Mitch Fillman wrist shot from the point found its way through traffic and was tipped in front by Ryan Magill. Kelin Ainsworth had the second assist.
After Hammond shot a quick wrist shot off the crossbar, freshman defenseman Nathan Bruyere followed up on the play and put the rebound past Shymko, giving the Wolves the 3-0 lead midway through the second. Kelin Ainsworth had the extra helper.
Shymko was subsequently pulled and replaced by Robin Billingham in the Ottawa net.
Five minutes into the third period, Ottawas Charles Power fired a wrist shot that made its way through traffic and got by Wolves goaltender Jeff Bosch to narrow Lakeheads lead to 3-1.
Stephen Blunden made the score 3-2 at 14:30 of the third period, giving the Gee Gees a late spark. When Ottawas Taylor Collins tied it up with less than 30 seconds to go in the game, that spark turned into a flame.
In overtime, Stephen Blunden broke in all alone and put the puck past Bosch with only nine seconds left on the clock, giving Ottawa the 4-3 win.
The Molson Three Stars of the game were:
1.Stephen Blunden, Ottawa
2.Mike Hammond, Lakehead
3.Kelin Ainsworth, Lakehead
Lakehead hits the road next weekend for games at Western Ontario and Brock.