The Lakehead Thunderwolves hockey team took the season opener 6-0 against the Ottawa Gee Gees, Friday night at the Fort William Gardens in Thunder Bay, Ontario.
The Thunderwolves came out hitting everything in sight, energized by the 3,500-plus crowd on hand to watch them in their first action of the year. The game was a penalty-filled affair, with plenty stoppages in play and lots of rough stuff after the whistle. In the end, the Thunderwolves constant barrage of shots and hits was too much for the Ottawa squad to take.
The line of Ryan McDonald (Prince Albert, SK), Matt Caria (Sault St. Marie, ON), and Adam Sergerie (Thunder Bay, ON) was buzzing all night, trading chances throughout the game on Ottawa goaltender Harrison May, and combined for eleven points between them.
Sophomore Alex Dupuis (Thunder Bay, ON) was solid in goal making 31 saves for the shutout.
McDonald got things going fifty-two seconds into the first period with a laser wrist shot from the slot, assisted by Caria and Sergerie. Kris Hogg (Sicamous, BC) followed that up, intercepting a pass at center ice and scoring on a partial breakaway at 15:55 of the first. Caria then got on the board, scoring with under a minute left in the first. After that, the Thunderwolves never looked back.
After a scoreless second period, Trevor Gamache (Thunder Bay, ON) scored the first goal of his Thunderwolves career at 2:22 of the third period, assisted by Mike Thibert (Thunder Bay, ON), to make it 4-0. Caria notched his second goal of the game at 7:27of the third, andAdam Sergerieaddedanother onlyseventeen seconds later to cap off the scoring.
The action continues on Saturday night at 7:30 p.m. EST at the Fort William Gardens.