The Lakehead Thunderwolves sixth season and reign as OUA Champions came to an end when they fell 5-2 to the No. 3 Laurier Golden Hawks Saturday night at the Waterloo Recreation Complex in Waterloo, Ontario in Game #2 of their OUA quarterfinal playoff series. The win gives the Hawks a 2-0 sweep of the series and ensures that the OUA will have a new champion this season.
Lakehead ends the season with a 15-12-3-2 OUA record (18-19-3-2 overall) while the Hawks go to 24-5-1 in conference play and 27-11-1 overall. Penalties proved Lakeheads undoing as the Hawks scored three times on the powerplay and once shorthanded.
Lakeheads goals came from captain Jeff Richards and Andrew Brown. Richards ends his career with a goal and is Lakeheads all time OUA regular season points leader with 90 goals and 93 assists in 107 games (1.71 points per game). He ends his career second in Lakehead all time playoff scoring with 21 goals and 12 assists in 27 games (1.22 points per game). Finally, he ends his career second all time in overall Lakehead scoring with 126 goals (No. 1 all time at Lakehead) and 126 assists in 168 games (1.50 points per game).
Chris DiUbaldo led the Hawks with a pair of goals while singles came from Nick Vergeer, James Edgar, and Mike Leclair. Playmaker Mark Voakes picked up a pair of assists in the win. Laurier outshot Lakehead 37-32 in the match.
The Thunderwolves started the game in trouble as they took a minor, two double-minors, and a 10-minute misconduct. With a 5-on-3 man advantage; the Hawks were buzzing and were rewarded at 5:25 when Nick Vergeer scored on the powerplay. However, the Wolves kept fighting hard during the long penalty kill and were rewarded during their second double-minor disadvantage when Andrew Brown broke free all alone on Laurier netminder Jeff McDougald and Brown fired a wicked shot that beat McDougald high at 12:03 for a shorthanded marker. The Wolves then put on some pressure and were rewarded at 14:01 when captain Jeff Richards knocked in rebound; assisted by Dan Speer and Steve Rawski.
The Wolves then went on the powerplay and attacked the Laurier goal; coming close when a shot deflected up onto the Hawks goal. The Hawks then killed off that powerplay and play went both ways for a while. Laurier took another minor with 47 seconds left in the period and Lakeheads Matt Jacques fired a hard shot that was stopped nicely by Lauriers McDougald with 8 seconds left. Shots were 14-8 Laurier in the first.
The Wolves started the second on the powerplay but then took a minor of their own; giving the Hawks a powerplay for a minute. The Hawks made it count at 2:01 when Chris DiUbaldo knocked in the puck after an initial save by Lakehead goalie Chris Whitley. The Hawks kept up the pressure and Whitley had to make two good saves in succession. More Hawks pressure followed and then Lakehead took another minor penalty. The Hawks had some good scoring opportunities but the Wolves survived the penalty kill due to good stop by Whitley.
Sides evened up and Lakehead came close when Mark Soares fired a shot wide from in front of the goal; just past the yawning Hawks cage. Lakehead then took another minor penalty but killed it off nicely. The Hawks drew a minor of their own at 10:41 and Lauriers McDougald made a good stop to deny Lakeheads Dan Speer. The Hawks killed off the minor and then Lakehead took another penalty at 14:03 and then the Hawks again made the powerplay count when a bouncing puck went by Whitely at 14:33. The goal was credited to DiUbaldo, his second of the game, with the assist going to Rob Dmytruk. Both teams had chances in the final five minutes but couldnt convert. Shots were 13-11 Laurier in the second.
The Wolves had some early chances in the third but McDougald made two good saves and then the Hawks drew a minor at 2:23. However, Lakehead took a minor on the ensuing faceof to even things up.