A large crowd of 3,045 fans saw a very exciting game as the No. 2 UNB Varsity Reds defeated the No. 4 Lakehead Thundewolves 4-1 in the second game of Day Two round robin action of the Bell Varsity Cup in Thunder Bay. UNB goaltender Reg Bourcier was the story of the game as he came up with a number of great saves to frustrate the Thunderwolves. Bourcier turned away 40 Lakehead shots on the night.
The quick counter-attack of the fast-skating V-Reds proved deadly as well. The V-Reds were led by Ryan Lindsay with a goal and 2 assists and Colin Sinclair with a goal and an assist. The win puts UNB's tourney record at 2-0 while Lakehead's drops to 1-1.
Lakehead had the edge in play for the first five minutes, but couldn't generate any dangerous scoring chances. The Thunderwolves then put a few good shots at the V-Reds goal, but couldn't beat goalie Reg Bourcier. UNB's Denny Johnston then was sprung loose on a breakaway but was stopped nicely by Lakehead goaltender Grant McCune. The Thunderwolves then went back up the ice and Joel Scherban fanned in front of the UNB goal, on a lovely centering pass from Jeff Richards. UNB defenseman Mike Dombkiewicz then saved a goal when he batted a Jeff Richards shot out of the air in front of the V-Reds goal. UNB then skated back up the ice and Troy Stonier fired a hard shot that was stopped nicely by McCune. Lakehead then put on the pressure, peppering Bourcier with shots but couldn't beat him.
UNB's Stonier then carred the puck up the ice with a nice rush. The puck jammed up in front of the Lakehead goal and Ryan Lindsay knocked it high past McCune at 13:25. The assists went to Stonier and Cusson. The goal seemed to deflate the Thunderwolves and fire up the V-Reds. The Thunderwolves then went on the powerplay but again couldn't beat Bourcier. Lakehead recharged near the end of the period and stormed the UNB goal in the final two minutes of play but again Bourcier kept them at bay. Lakehead outshot UNB 16-12 in the first period.
Lakehead killed off a minor penalty to start the second period. Then Lakehead's Steve Rawski crushed UNB's Jean-Michel Boisvert. Kyle Werner put UNB up 2-0 at 3:10 when he flipped the puck nicely over McCune's shoulder with a quick backhander. The assists went to Jason Hegberg and Ryan Mockler. A penalty to UNB's Kevin Werner proved costly as Jason Lange put the Thunderwolves on the board at 5:30, when he launched a blistering wrister from the top of the right circle that beat a screened Bourcier. Assists went to Murray Magill and Jouni Kuokkanen. However, the V-Reds struck back at 5:48, when Colin Sinclair beat McCune with a high shot. The assist went to Ryan Lindsay. Kevin Young made it 4-1 at 6:41, scoring on a beautiful trailer play set up by Sinclair and Lindsay.
The game got rough at the 10:24 mark when UNB's Stacey Smallman ran Lakehead goatender McCune, sending him flying. The Thunderwolves Wyatt Tunnicliffe promptly skated Smallman down and steamrolled him to let him know that knocking goaltenders down was not acceptable in Thunder Bay. Both players were penalized. Reg Bourcier then made an incredible save at 11:54, sliding across the crease to deflect a sure goal away from a shot by Lakehead's Bryan Duce. Lakehead then went on the 5-on-3 powerplay and put on the pressure. Bourcier robbed Chris Shaffer with a quick pad save and then followed with two more good saves. The V-Reds killed off the penalties and then put on some pressure of their own in the last two minutes. Lakehead outshot UNB 14-6 in the second period.
The first five minutes of the third period saw good fast two-way action. UNB seemed content to play defensively through the middle stages of the period. Lakehead put on some pressure from the 10 to 14 minutes marks, but couldn't seem to quite f