The Lakehead Thunderwolves lost a hard-fought penalty filled 6-5 OT battle to the visiting No. 7 Laurier Golden Hawks Saturday night at the Fort William Gardens in Thunder Bay. Lakehead now has a 12-9-2-2 OUA record (15-15-2-2 overall) while Laurier has a 18-5-1 OUA mark.
Lakehead was led by Brock McPherson with two goals while singles came from Dan Speer, Tobias Whelan, and Mike Wehrstedt. Jeff Richards added two assists.
Matt Grennier paced the Hawks with 2 goals while singles came from Mark Voakes, Ryan Courtney, Chris DiUbaldo, and Nathan Peacock. Matt Maccarone added three assists for Laurier.
Both Lakehead netminder Chris Whitley and Laurier goalie Jeff MacDougald played well; with Whitley facing 44 Laurier shots and MacDougald looking at 51 Lakehead shots. MacDougald made two key saves in the game; a breakaway save off Lakehead Captain Richards in the second period and a series of strong saves during a Lakehead powerplay in the third.
Lakehead was 1-14 on the powerplay and Laurier went 3-12.
The Molson's Three Stars were:
1) Laurier: Mark Voakes
2) Lakehead: Brock McPherson
3) Lakehead: Jeff Richards
The Molsons Three Stars were:
1)Mark Voakes: Laurier
2)Brock McPherson: Lakehead
3)Jeff Richards: Lakehead
Lakehead picks up a point from the weekend but now find themselves on a four game losing streak; with only four games left in the regular season. Next weekend they travel to Toronto for two tough games against a resurgent York Lions squad. The Wolves end the regular season at home with two games against the Western Mustangs.
Scoring Summary:
Per 1:
1)Laurier: PP: Matt Grennier assisted by Matt Maccarone and Rob Dmytruk
2)Laurier: 9:37: PP: Grennier from Nathan Peacock and Maccarone
3)Lakehead: 11:24: Brock McPherson from Mark Soares and Andrew Brown
4)Lakehead: 13:57: Dan Speer from Andy Zulyniak and Jeff Richards
5)Laurier: 19:04: Ryan Courtney
Per 2:
6)Lakehead: 1:38: Tobias Whelan from Jordan Smith and Jeff Richards
7)Laurier: 11:26: PP: Chris DiUbaldo from Nick Vergeer and Luke Girard
8)Lakehead: 19:46: PP: Mike Wehrstedt from Brad Priestlay and Richard Molenaar
Per 3:
9)Laurier: 34 seconds: Nathan Peacock from Jeff Burrows and Chad Kennedy
10)Lakehead: 17:34: Brock McPherson from Matt Jacques
OT:
11) Laurier: 4:24: Mark Voakes from Maccarone and Burrows.