The No. 9 Lakehead Thunderwolves mens hockey team earned an away sweep with a second consecutive 8-3 win over the Ryerson Rams Saturday night in Orillia, Ontario. Although Ryerson was officially the home team for the game; the big crowd at the Orillia Community Centre Arena was mostly cheering for the Thunderwolves due to the fact Lakehead has opened its new campus in Orillia earlier this fall and also due to the fact that Wolves star Tobias Whelan is an Orillia native.
The Wolves again had a balanced attack as six different players scored; led by freshman Mark Soares and senior Mike Wehrstedt with a pair of goals and an assist each. The others were tallied by Matt Jacques, Andrew Brown, Tobias Whelan, and Matt Maissoneuve. Whelan also notched a pair of assists.
Ryersons scoring came from Mike Kavanaugh with a pair and Kevin Day with a single.
Lakehead now has a 7-2-1 OUA record (9-5-1 overall) while Ryerson is 1-9 in conference play and has a 1-11 overall mark.
Shots on goal were 40-19 for Lakehead. Lakehead netminder Chris Whitley kicked out 16 Ryerson shots for his sixth win of the season. It looks like Ryerson may have found their No. 1 netminder as Pierre Beaulieu played an excellent game; making a number of fine saves, especially in the third period, turning aside 32 Lakehead shots.
Lakehead led 2-1 after the first, 5-1 after the second, and then the short-staffed Rams made a spirited comeback attempt in the final period before Lakehead finally broke through the armour of Beaulieu with three quick goals to end the Ryerson threat.
It was a very good weekend for Whelan, Wehrstedt, and Soares as Whelan had 2 goals and 4 assists, Soares notched 3 goals and 2 assists, and Wehrstedt recorded 2 goals and 3 assists.
Lakehead returns home next weekend for two games against the Queens Golden Gaels.