The Lakehead Thunderwolves downed the York Lions 5-2 in front of 2298 fans at the Fort William Gardens on Saturday night and swept the Lions two games to nothing in their OUA West Division quarter-final series.
Lakehead got the crowd into the game at 1:25 of the opening period when David Quesnele deflected a Carson Dubchak wrist shot that found its way past York goaltender Andrew Perugini. The second assist was credited to Mike Quesnele.
York got on the board at 7:49 of the first when Jordan Forfar finished off a crazy goalmouth scramble that knotted the score at 1-1.
Lakeheads so-called checking line came to play as the Menard-Restoule-Kaarela line was buzzing all period.
Ryan Magill put the Thunderwolves up 2-1 at 14:28 of the first after finishing off Andrew Wilkins great short-handed effort.
York came out in the second period intent on closing the gap, and there was a lot of physical play from both sides as the game progressed.
The Lions tied the score when Michael Santini converted after another mad scramble in the crease of Wolves netminder Jeff Bosch.
Lakehead stormed back just 17 seconds later when Mike Hammond fed a wide-open Kelin Ainsworth who ripped the puck past Perugini and gave the Thunderwolves the 3-2 lead.
David Quesnele continued his strong play when he scored his second goal of the game and third of the playoffs at 16:58 of the second period, giving the Wolves a 4-2 lead. The assists on the goal went to Nathan Bruyere and Ryan Magill.
With the Wolves short-handed midway through the third period, Andrew Wilkins pick-pocketed Lions defenseman Tyler Mort at center ice and then deked out Perugini to put Lakehead up 5-2. The Wolves held on for the remainder of the period to take both the game and the series.
The Molson Three Stars of the game were:
1.David Quesnele
2.Andrew Wilkins
3.Ryan Magill
Lakehead now advances to the OUA West Division semi-finals and will play game #1 on the road Wednesday night against an opponent still to be determined. The Wolves will return home for game #2 of the series on Friday night, and if necessary, game #3 will go Saturday night at the Fort William Gardens. Tickets for game #2 will go on sale Monday morning at the Fort William Gardens box office.