The Lakehead Thunderwolves dominated the Ontario Tech Ridgebacks 9-2 on Friday night in Thunder Bay, Ontario.
Lakehead controlled the play from the outset, keeping Ontario Tech shotless through half of the opening period. Matt Caria, the OUAs leading scorer was all over the ice in the first period. Freshman Mike Hammond got the Thunderwolves on the board early with a beautiful through the legs goal, followed by an undressing of Ontario Techs starting netminder Jason Guy at 2:28 of the first. Assists on the goal went to Caria and Jadran Beljo. Ontario Tech seemed intent on playing a physical game, but had trouble keeping up with the skill of Lakehead in the early going. At 14:18 of the first, Caria put the Wolves in front 2-0 on a nice passing play with Adam Sergerie. Trevor Gamache had the second assist. Caria would ring another blast off the post on a breakaway later in the period. Jake Carrick rounded out the scoring in the first with his second goal of the year to make it 3-0. Assists were credited to Andrew Wilkins and Mike Quesnele.
Ontario Tech got on the board at 6:14 of the second period on a broken down play that saw Brendan Wise with the puck on his stick on the doorstep. He made no mistake, and pulled Tech to within two goals.
Lakehead coach Joel Scherban called an immediate timeout which did the trick, as the Wolves controlled the play for the reminder of the period. Mike Hammond got things going with his second goal of the game, as he burst down the wing and rifled a wrist shot past Tech goaltender Jason Guy. Assists on the goal were credited to Jason Grecica and Quesnele. Not long after, Co-Captain Andrew Wilkins got on the board, courtesy of a nice feed from Hammond to put Lakehead up 5-1 at 13:09 of the second. Jadran Beljo received the second assist on the power-play marker. Trevor Gamache finished of the scoring in the second on an unassisted goal at 14:17 that Gamache stuffed past Guy.
Lakehead continued their strong play in the third period. Mike Hammond scored his third goal of the game at 2:58 on a beautiful shorthanded effort. It was Hammonds second hat-trick this year already at this early point in the season. The lone assist went to Jadran Beljo. Ontario Tech got back on the board after big winger Tony Rizzi snuck past the defense and ripped a shot past Dupuis to make it 7-2 at 6:16 of the third. The glory of that goal was short-lived for Ontario Tech as Lakehead freshman Keith Grondin scored his first goal in a Thunderwolves uniform on a blast from the slot, making it 8-2. Assists on the power-play goal went to Ryan Magill and Mitch Fillman at 8:33.
The game got heated after that as a huge scrum developed in front of the Ontario Tech bench, that resulted in Danick Malouin and Ontario Tech winger Kody Musselman dropping the gloves, much to the delight of the crowd.
Lakehead forward Jason Grecica got a late goal to put Lakehead up 9-2; assists went to Ryan Magill and Mitch Maunu.
Both teams are back at it Saturday night at the Fort William Gardens. As always, the opening puck drop is at 7:30 PM.