The Lakehead Thunderwolves edged the Concordia Stingers 4-3 in a shootout on teddy bear toss night at the Fort William Gardens in Thunder Bay in front of 3,011 fans on Friday.
Concordia got on the board first when forward Kieran ONeil banged in his own rebound to give the Stingers the early 1-0 lead.
Chris de la Lande put home a loose puck at 7:38 of the opening frame to tie the game at 1-1 and send the teddy bears flying from the stands and onto the ice. The assists on the goal were credited to Matt Kaarela and Paul Thompson.
The Thunderwolves took a 2-1 lead less than a minute later when Cody Alcock scored off a beautiful feed from Andrew Wilkins. The other assist went to Trevor Gamache.
The second period was scoreless but didnt lack for action as both sides had plenty off great chances, including a Mike Hammond laser that rang off the cross-bar. Justin McDonald for Lakehead and Antoine Marchand for Concordia each made some big saves for their respective teams.
Both teams continued to trade chances in a tense third period, highlighted by a huge pad save by McDonald that kept the Wolves in front.
The lead didnt last and Concordia tied it up halfway through the third when forward Ben Dubois pounced on his own rebound and muscled the puck past McDonald, knotting the score at 2-2.
Alcock restored Lakeheads lead with his second goal of the game on a beautiful individual effort when he blew past a Concordia defender and swooped in and backhanded the puck past Marchand. The assists were credited to Mitch Fillman and Gamache.
The Stingers proved to be resilient and evened it up at 3-3 with three minutes left in the game on a point shot by Taylor Lambke that made its way through traffic and past McDonald.
Overtime solved nothing and the game proceeded to a shootout.
On the first five attempts, none of the three Stingers' shooterscould beat McDonald, and Jake Carrick and Alcock were stymied by Marchand. Mike Hammond then netted the shootout winner to give the Wolves a 4-3 victory.
The Molson 3 Stars of the game were:
1st Star Cody Alcock, Lakehead
2nd Star Mike Hammond, Lakehead
3rd Star Justin McDonald, Lakehead
Both teams are back in action Saturday night at 7:30 at the Fort William Gardens.