The No. 6 Lakehead Thunderwolves earned a weekend sweep over a tough Brock Badgers side with an 8-4 win before 3353 fans at the Fort William Gardens in Thunder Bay on Saturday night. Lakehead was led by Murray Magill with two goals while singles came from Brad Priestlay, Jason Lange, Mark Robinson, Andrew Brown, Joel Scherban and Peter Cava. Cava also added two assists for a three point night while Jeff Richards and Erik Lodge had three assists each. Brock's scoring came from Mike Melinko, Jonathan Labelle, Jason Harshaw, and Chris Knighton. The Thunderwolves outshot the Badgers 37-34 on the night.
Lakehead remains tied for first in the OUA Far West Division with Western with 31 points apiece while Waterloo is in third with 26. Lakehead will host Western next weekend for two games that will decide the division winner. The Thunderwolves now have a 15-6-1 OUA record (23-14-2-1 overall) while Brock has a 6-14-1-1 OUA mark.
Lakehead Head Coach Pete Belliveau said the Thunderwolves had to earn the wins against a gritty Brock team. "These were a valuable four points that we needed but I give full marks to Brock. They were down and then never stopped working and they never gave up. Now we have to get ready for next weekend against Western in a series that will decide our division winner."
Saturday's game was a hard-hitting, close checking affair with the Thunderwolves taking a first period 2-1 lead and not looking back. But, the game Badgers kept working hard and getting goals of their own. Brock also hit a couple posts or the game could have been closer. The game ended somewhat strangely as it was Lakehead, with an 8-4 lead, who took a bushel of penalties in the last 10 minutes giving the Badgers a lot of powerplay time to get back in the game. However, the Lakehead defense and goaltender Chris Whitley held on for the win.
Coach Belliveau, somewhat exasperated with the many late penalties, was ejected from the game right near the end of the game as he expressed his displeasure towards the referee. The game was also historic as it was also the first Lakehead game to ever be televised by Thunder Bay Television-CTV.
The Molson's Three Stars, as chosen by Thunder Bay Television-CTV:
1) Lakehead: Peter Cava
2) Lakehead: Murray Magill
3) Lakehead: Andrew Brown