The Lakehead Thunderwolves mens hockey team battled hard Saturday night but fell to the Alberta Golden Bears 3-1 Saturday night at the Fort William Gardens in Thunder Bay before 2604 fans. Albertas record nows goes to 4-1-2 against varsity opponents and 5-1-2 overall while Lakehead posts a 0-2 mark.
Lakeheads goal came from Andrew Brown while the Bears scoring was supplied by Brian Woolger, Chad Klassen, and Dale Mahovsky.
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The Wolves played a very strong game throughout and picked up the energy level dramatically compared to Fridays 3-0 loss. Although the Bears outshot Lakehead 39-27 on the night; the Wolves had the majority of the dangerous chances and Alberta netminder Blake Grenier, the games first star, was the story this night making a dozen fantastic saves to keep the Wolves at bay.
Lakehead freshmen netminder Kyle Moir also played very well in his first outing; and also made quite a few excellent saves; only allowing two goals.
Lakeheads forward play looked much sharper tonight and the very strong play of the line of Shandor Alphonso, Ryan Maunu, and Devin Welsh must be noted as they were the best line on the ice for the Thunderwolves in this game.
The first period saw Lakehead come out quickly and Grenier making a big save early. The Bears had some good chances of their own in the middle section of the period but Lakeheads Moir was up to the task in the Wolves goal. The period ended with Grenier making a flurry of big stops. Shots on goal in the first were 16-11 Alberta.
The Wolves dominated play for the first nine minutes of play in the second but could not convert possession into enough offensive chances. Albertas Grenier made three more great saves and Lakeheads Alphonso hit the post. The Bears put on the pressure in the second half of the period and seemed to take the lead but the phantom goal was not seen by the referee or the goal judge so the score remained at zero. However, Brian Woolger put the Bears up 1-0 at 13:54, set up nicely by Chad Klassen and Derek Ryan. Lakeheads Moir also made two excellent saves including one off a breakaway. Shots on goal were 11-6 Alberta in the second.
Both teams turned it on in the third and it was the Wolves who scored first at 10:29 when Andrew Brown converted a nice three-way play from Kris Hogg and Tobias Whelan. The Bears struck back quickly on a strange goal when the puck took a strange bounce off the back boards behind Lakehead netminder Moir and jumped right out into the slot to a waiting Klassen and he banged it in at 11:48. Lakehead tried desperately for the equalizer and Grenier again came up big at 13:16 when he robbed Hogg with a big glove save.
The Wolves pulled Moir with over a minute left and stormed the Alberta zone but couldnt get organized and Albertas Dale Mahovsky and Tyler Metcalfe broke out on a 2-on-1 against a lone Lakehead defenceman and the Bears duo neatly combined for Mahovskys empty netter at 19:16 to ice the game. Shots in the third were 12-10 Alberta in the third.
The Molson's Three Stars, as chosen by the Chronicle Journals Reuben Villagracia, were:
1) Blake Grenier: Alberta
2) Shandor Alphonso: Lakehead
3) Chad Klassen: Alberta
Lakehead opens OUA conference play next weekend when they travel to Windsor to take on the Lancers under new Head Coach Pete Belliveau; formerly Lakeheads bench boss for the teams first six seasons.