Scoring five goals against star Waterloo netminder Curtis Darling would seem enough to usually ensure a win for an opposing team but that wasnt the case Saturday night at the Fort William Gardens as the No. 9 Waterloo Warriors staged a furious second period comeback to defeat the Lakehead Thunderwolves 8-5. Penalties and powerplay scoring was the theme of the night as both teams scored five powerplay goals. Three Lakehead players, Andrew Brown, Shandor Alphonso, and Erik Lodge, were ejected in a game that saw 117 minutes in penalties and the Thunderwolves outshooting the Warriors 47-29.
Even though he allowed five goals, Darling was the man of the match for Waterloo as he made a bushel of big saves. Doug Spooner was the other hero for the Warriors as he had a monster game with three goals and three assists. Lakehead defenseman Matt Jacques had a fantastic night as well with two goals and two assists. Waterloos other goals came from Mike Della Mora, David Philpott, Ryan Fitzgerald, Jordan Brenner, and Matt Iannetta. Andrew Brown, Mike Jacobsen, and Jeff Richards notched Lakeheads other goals.
The loss puts Lakeheads OUA record at 9-7-2 (13-13-4 overall) and lifts Waterloo to 11-4-3 in OUA play and 16-8-3 overall and gives Waterloo a five point cushion above Lakehead for second place in the OUA Far West Division.
Lakehead stormed the barricades in the first and built a 4-1 lead on powerplay goals by Brown, Jacques, and two from Jacobsen. Waterloos Della Mora and Philpott kept the Warriors close in a period that ended with Lakehead up 4-2 but outshooting Waterloo 26-10.
The second saw Lakehead begin the penalty parade and the Warriors capitalized with five straight goals from Fitzgerald, two from Spooner, Brenner, and Iannetta. Lakeheads Richards put one in at the end of the period to make the score 7-5 Waterloo and the Wolves outshot the Warriors 12-11.
The final period was slow for the most part but Lakehead had some early pressure and were pressing and the turning point of the game may have been a truly incredible glove save by Darling to rob Lakeheads Jason Lange. Then Spooner completed his hat trick and the Wolves never really threatened after that as they began another penalty box parade. Lakehead outshot Waterloo 9-8 in the final stanza.
The Three Stars, as chosen by Reuben Villagracia of the Thunder Bay Chronicle Journal, were:
1)Waterloo : Doug Spooner
2)Lakehead: Matt Jacques
3)Waterloo: Curtis Darling
Lakehead hosts the Guelph Gryphons next Friday and Saturday nights at 7:30 pm EST at the Fort William Gardens and the games can be seen on videowebcast live pay-per-view with ordering info available at http://www.news-cast.com/events/index.html.