Led by the goaltending of Nic Renyard and two third-period goals by Dylan Butler, the Lakehead Thunderwolves edged the Windsor Lancers 2-1 at the South Windsor Arena on Saturday night.
The Wolves came out with a lot of jump and tested Windsor goalie Jonathan Reinhart often in the opening period, but were unable to get anything past him.
Lakehead’s Nic Renyard was also sharp at the other end of the ice and gave up the only goal of the first when Josh Slegers fired a rocket from the right hash mark at 11:49 to stake the Lancers to a 1-0 lead.
Both ‘tenders continued their solid play in a scoreless second period with Renyard being the busier of the two, making several brilliant saves to keep Windsor from extending its lead.
Dylan Butler tied the game 4:48 into the third when he fooled Reinhart with a nice move, and then got the go-ahead goal with a hard wrister from the slot at 13:03.
Sam Schutt assisted on both of Butler’s goals and Brennen Dubchak also got a helper on the winner.
Windsor pulled Reinhart for an extra attacker with 1:11 to go in the game, but Lakehead tightened up defensively in the final stanza and held off the Lancers to preserve the victory.
The final tally for shots on goal was 38-37 in favor of the Thunderwolves.
The win improved Lakehead’s OUA record to 10-9-1 (16-10-1 overall) and moved the Wolves back into fifth place in the West Division standings, one point ahead of Windsor.
The Thunderwolves will return home for a two-game set with the Laurier Golden Hawks at the Fort William Gardens next weekend.