The Lakehead Thunderwolves defeated the Brock Badgers 5-2 on Friday night at Fort William Gardens in Thunder Bay, ON.
Both teams came out a little tentative with each side feeling each other out to start the contest. Mitch Maunu and Jordan Smith got the home team into the game with some big hits to ramp up the intensity.
Brock defenseman Kevin Christmas floated a shot through traffic that eluded Lakehead goaltender Alex Dupuis to put Brock in front 1-0 at 3:59 of the first. Brennan Menard was stopped by Badgers goalie Kurt Jory on a partial breakaway mid-way through the first, and later on so was Jadran Beljo, who was playing his first home game for the Thunderwolves.
The second period proved to be much better for Lakehead. At 4:37, Brock McPherson circled the net and stuffed it past Jory to knot the score at 1-1, with assists credited to Adam Sergerie and Mitch Maunu. Lakehead had a flurry of chances throughout the second period, but were stymied by some great goaltending from Jory, including another breakaway stop on a Beljo. The Wolves went ahead 2-1 at 16:32 after Jory made an ill-advised diving attempt to clear the puck, which Ryan McDonald scooped up and put into the empty net.
Lakehead continued to roll in the third period as Adam Sergerie fired a shot over Jorys shoulder at 1:53 to put Lakehead in front 3-1. Shortly after, Ryan Magill got past the Brock defense and slid the puck through Jorys pads to put the Thunderwolves up 4-1.
With Beljo in the penalty box, Brocks Jordan Gignac flipped one past Dupuis to cut Lakeheads lead to 4-2 at 12:39 of the third. The Thunderwolves sealed the victory with a Brennan Menard empty-netter with 43 seconds left on the clock to round out the scoring at 5-2 Lakehead.
The Molson 3 stars of the game were:
1. Ryan McDonald, Lakehead
2. Adam Sergerie, Lakehead
3. Andrew Wilkins, Lakehead
Both teams meet again Saturday night at the Fort William Gardens at 7:30 PM.