The Lakehead Thunderwolves let an early lead slip away and wound up falling 6-4 to the Laurentian Voyageurs in front of 2586 fans at the Fort William Gardens on Saturday night.
Lakehead opened the scoring when Carson Dubchak fed a streaking E.J. Faust, who notched his first goal in a Wolves uniform just 3:48 into the game.
Five minutes later, Carson Dubchak beat Laurentian goalie Charlie Millen from in-close after some nice work by Kelin Ainsworth and Jake Wright, and the Wolves held a 2-0 lead before the midway point of the first period.
Laurentian responded shortly after with two goals in just over a minute and a half. The first was a blast from Beau Williams-Orser that found its way through traffic to beat Lakehead netminder Justin McDonald, and the second was a Nick Esposto power play marker for the Voyageurs to deadlock the score at 2-2 and round out the scoring in the opening stanza.
In the second period, freshman defenceman Cody Kostecki, who was playing his first game as a Thunderwolf, put Lakehead up 3-2 on a shot from the slot at the 5:33 mark. Matt Kaarela picked up the assist.
Laurentians Jamie Haines tipped in a floater from the point just over two minutes later with the Voyageurs on the power play once again to knot the score, and then at 9:01 Laurentian took the lead when former Lakehead forward Mike MacDonald scored for the Voyageurs.
Lakehead tied the game at 4-4 when Cody Alcock one-timed Kaarelas rebound at 9:46 of the third period, with Faust picking up the second assist. But Laurentian stormed right back to re-take the lead when Mike MacDonald notched his second straight on a broken play while the Voyageurs were short-handed.
The Wolves were unable to capitalize on some good scoring chances in the final minutes of the game, and then Graham Yeo sealed the deal for Laurentian with an empty-netter with just 29 seconds left on the clock.
Laurentian outshot Lakehead on the night by a margin of 41-34.
The Molson Three Stars of the Game were:
1.Carson Dubchak, Lakehead
2.Mike MacDonald, Laurentian
3.E.J. Faust, Lakehead
Lakehead will open OUA regular-season play on the road, with games at Waterloo and Laurier next Friday and Saturday nights.