The Lakehead Thunderwolves lost 4-2 to the Laurier Golden Hawks at the Sun Life Arena in Kitchener-Waterloo on Saturday night.
Despite outshooting the Hawks 44-28, the Thunderwolves ran into a hot goalie as Hawks netminder Ryan Daniels - like hes done many times in the past - stole the game for Laurier.
Ryan Lopes opened the scoring for Laurier at 13:58 of the first period when he beat Lakehead goaltender Alex Dupuis while the Hawks were short-handed, giving them a 1-0 lead heading into the second.
Lakehead tied the game at 1-1 after Chris de la Lande and Carson Dubchak fed Thomas Frazee, who slipped the puck past Daniels 4:28 into the middle frame. Trent Hawke put Laurier ahead with a power play marker at the 7:09 mark, and the period ended with the Golden Hawks nursing a 2-1 lead.
Matthew Provost extended Lauriers lead to 3-1 at 5:22 of the final stanza, but Lakeheads Luke Judson narrowed the gap to 3-2 with 50 seconds left on the clock after being set up by Brennan Menard and Trevor Gamache. But the Hawks responded quickly and iced the game when Greg Cerilli scored for Laurier at 19:39 of the third period, giving the Golden Hawks the 4-2 win.
The loss drops Lakeheads OUA record to 8-4-2; two points behind the first-place Windsor Lancers in the West Division.
Lakehead will host Windsor for a pair of games at the Fort William Gardens next weekend in the Wolves last home games before the Christmas exam break.