The Lakehead Thunderwolves were defeated 3-1 by the Ontario Tech Ridgebacks at the Campus Ice Centre in Oshawa on Friday night.
The Wolves looked a bit sluggish in the first period, with the Ridgebacks controlling most of the play and outshooting Lakehead 16-8.
Ben Blasko gave UOIT the early lead with a shot that Lakehead goalie Devin Green got a piece of, but the puck trickled past him and into the back of net 4:56 into the contest.
The Ridgebacks went up by two when Jack Patterson danced by a Lakehead defender and fired one past green on the blocker side at 12:32.
The second period was more of the same, as the shots on goal were 12-3 for Ontario Tech.
Josh Carrick extended UOIT’s lead to 3-0 after receiving a drop pass and rifling a hard shot from the face-off circle that beat Green through the wickets at 8:53.
The highlight of the period for Lakehead was a crushing hit that Austin McDonald put on a Ridgeback player that had a noticeable size advantage on the Wolves’ forward.
Lakehead’s Daniel Del Paggio was assessed a double minor plus a ten-minute misconduct in the latter stages of the middle frame, but the Ridgebacks were unable to capitalize with the four-minute man-advantage that lasted until early in the third period.
Lakehead came alive in the final stanza, outshooting the Ridgebacks 15-2. The Wolves threatened to score with a flurry of activity in the Ridgebacks’ zone, but were thwarted by netminder Tyson Teichmann on several occasions.
Scott Gall finally broke Teichmann’s shutout bid at 15:20 when he slammed the puck home from the doorstep after a nice set-up by Dylan Butler and Brennen Dubchak on a Lakehead power play.
The Wolves continued to apply plenty of pressure and pulled Green for an extra attacker as the clock wound down, but the Ridgebacks held on to take the win.
On the night, the Thunderwolves were 1-for-4 on the power play while the Ridgebacks went 0-for-5.
The final shots on goal tally was 30-26 for the Ridgebacks.
Lakehead will look to exact a measure of revenge when both teams square off again tomorrow night, with the opening face-off set for 7:00 PM.