A goal by Saskatchewan's Rob Staudinger at 2:24 of the OT period silenced a noisy crowd of 3174 at the Fort William Gardens in Thunder Bay and gave the Saskatchewan Huskies a thrilling 5-4 win over the Lakehead Thunderwolves. Lakehead was led by Murray Magill with a goal and an assist and Peter Cava with two assists. The other Lakehead goals came from Austin Wycisk, Brad Priestlay, and Steve Rawski. Saskatchewan's other goals came from Jon Barkman, Dean Beuker, Mason Wallin, and Ryan Johnston. The 'Wolves went 0-5 on the powerplay while the Huskies were 1-4. The win lifts the Huskies record to 8-3 and puts Lakehead's record at 6-3.
Lakehead Head Coach Pete Belliveau said the Huskies played well. "They simply outworked us and played better than we did.In the third period, they came out fast and we were chasing them. Full marks to them for a very strong game."
Saskatchewan Head Coach Dave Adolph washappy withhis team's effort and commented on the rugged nature of the game. "I think that our reputation preceeded us and they thought we were a big, bad, physical hockey team so they took it to us physically early; but we held our own. But, Lakehead has a great team and it should be anothergood game tomorrow. I also want to say what a great atmosphere for college hockey it isto play here!"
The first opened with some fast action and the Huskies' Thomas Vicars came up with a good save to rob Lakehead's Sean Stefanski who was all alone in front of the Saskatchewan goal. Lakehead went on the powerplay and Vicars blocked a hard shot by the 'Wolves Tobias Whelan. Lakehead's Grant McCune then made a good toe save off Saskatchewan's Alekcei McAvoy. The Huskies Ryan Johnston then fired a bullet that rang the left Lakehead post. Lakehead's Steve Rawski opened the scoring at 10:59 when he fired a point wrister along the ice that went through a crowd in front of the Huskies' goal and past a screened Vicars. Assists went to Jeff Richards and Joel Scherban. Vicars then made a great save off Lakehead's Brad Priestlay. Saskatchewan then put on the pressure and just missed during a scramble in front of the Lakehead goal. Vicars then came up with a huge save off Lakehead's Jason Lange who was set up with a beautiful pass by Francis Walker. Saskatchewan got on the board at 17:01 when Dean Beuker was set up in front of McCune who made the first save, but Beuker knocked in the loose puck for the goal. Assists went to Brent Twordik and Jeff Schmidt. The action continued at breakneck speed as the 'Wolves Murray Magill then dinged the Huskies right post and then Peter Cava fired the puck over the Saskatchewan net. The Huskies outshot the 'Wolves 11-9 in the period.
The Huskies came out skating in the second and jumped out to a 2-1 lead at 2:26 when Mason Wallin beat a sprawled McCune after Wallin was set up by a nice pass from Jon Barkman behind the Lakehead net. The other assist went to Scott Schoneck. The Huskies went on the powerplay and Brent Twordik broke in alone on McCune but the netminder deflected it high. Lakehead's Chris Shaffer then faked by a Huskies' dman but his hard wrist shot stopped nicely by Vicars. The Thunderwolves then went on the powerplay and put on some serious pressure but Vicars came up with three big saves. Lakehead tied it up at 11:54 when Murray Magill converted a beautiful tic-tac-toe passing play set up by Sean Stefanski and Peter Cava. Once play restarted after the goal, a skirmish broke out in front of the Lakehead bench that resulted in minors to both teams. Lakehead took the lead back at 14:24 on a beautiful play by Peter Cava. Cava forced his way past one Saskatchewan dman and then, while tied up by the other, fed a one-handed pass to the front of the net which was banged in by Brad Priestlay. The other assist wen