The No. 7 Lakehead Thunderwolves played to a draw with the No. 1 Alberta Golden Bears 2-2 in a fast-paced non-conference overtime game before 3414 fans at Fort William Gardens in Thunder Bay. The game also featured an emotional pre-game ceremony where the Thunderwolves officially retired the No. 7 jersey worn by ex-Lakehead NorWester (previous incarnation of Lakehead hockey) hockey player Irmo Marini. Marini had been paralyzed in a game for the NorWesters in 1981, but had overcome his tragedy to become a distinguished university professor in Arkansas and Texas. Marini came up for the ceremony from Texas and received a standing ovation from the near capacity crowd.
The Thunderwolves were again lead by the incredible goaltending of Grant McCune, Jeff Richards with a goal and an assist, and by strong defense from Hugo Lehoux. Alberta was lead by some stellar saves from goaltender Dustin Schwartz and hard hitting and hustle from Tyler Shybunka. Lakehead had defeated Alberta 5-2 in the first of the two game series Friday night. The draw puts Lakehead's record at 14-7-2 and Alberta's record at 19-4-4. Both teams were not playing at full strength in Saturday's match as Alberta was resting some of its players who will be going to the World University Winter Games in Italy in two weeks, while Lakehead had three starters out due to injury. This game was a little more hard hitting than Friday's game, but overall a clean and fast-paced match.
Lakehead opened the scoring at 5:34 of the first when Bryan Duce caught Alberta goaltender with a low snapshot that beat him glove side. Assists went to Jeff Richards and Erik Lodge. This period featured some sharp goaltending. Schwartz made a nice pad save off Lakehead's Robert Hillier at 8:20, followed by two great stops off Chris Shaffer at 9:55. Lakehead's McCune countered with a lightning quick glove save off Alberta's Jonathan Hobson at 10:25. Schwartz then made an excellent stabbing toe save to rob Lakehead's Murray Magill at 14:25. Lakehead outshot Alberta 11-3 in the first.
The second period was very fast paced and featured some good body checks and some strong goaltending by Lakehead's McCune. Alberta picked up the pace in the second, and tied the game up at 2:22 on a goal from David Boychuk. Boychuk received a nice pass in the slot form Brad Tutschek and then roofed the puck over a sprawled McCune. The other assist went to Scott Henkelman. Lakehead's Jeff Richards made the score 2-1 on a very strange goal. Defenseman Hugo Lehoux took a shot which was deflected high off the back glass and fell in front of the Alberta goal. Jeff Richards pounced on the carom in front of the net and his shot deflected over the Alberta goal, hit the back glass, then bounced back over the net and hit Schwartz in the back and fell in. Alberta came back with a lucky goal of their own to tie the game at 18:22. Alberta's Justin Wallin took a pass from Cam Kuzyk in front of the Lakehead goal and blasted a shot which hit Lakehead's McCune in the chest. The puck bounced forward off his chest and then hit his own defenseman coming back and the carom lobbed in over a sprawled McCune. Alberta had the edge in play in the second, outshooting Lakehead 16-5.
The first half of the third period saw both teams having difficulty sustaining their offense, featuring only a few good scoring chances. Alberta also hit more in this period than in any other period of the two game series. Alberta's Hobson dinged the post at 4:02 on a breakaway. Lakehead's Robert Hillier also rang the post at 7:48. McCune then made a great save off Alberta's Tyler Zukiwsky at 7:57, followed quickly by a great glove save off Wade Burt at 8:04. The game really opened up in the last 10 minutes as both teams went for the win. Alberta's Schwartz made a nice blocker save off a blistering point shot from Lakehead's Tyler Williamson at 11:35. Schwartz then made three great saves in succession in a goa