The Lakehead Thunderwolves were downed 4-1 by the Windsor Lancers Friday night at the Fort William Gardens in Thunder Bay, ON in front of a crowd of 3,410.
Lakehead came out in the scoreless first period throwing everything they had on net, outshooting the visiting Windsor Lancers 12-1 in the first ten minutes of the opening stanza. Windsor goaltender Parker Van Buskirk was strong in net, and made some big saves on Thomas Frazee, Jake Carrick, and Adam Sergerie, who made his return to the lineup after being sidelined for several games with a concussion.
The Thunderwolves once again controlled the majority of the play in the second; Jake Carrick and Keith Grondin had some great chances, but were stymied by Van Buskirk again.
Lakehead goaltender Alex Dupuis made some big saves early on in the second period to keep the game scoreless until late in the middle frame.
Tom Craig of the Lancers finally broke the scoreless tie at 18:22 of the second period after a bad giveaway behind the Lakehead net. Up until that point, The Wolves had played a very sound defensive game.
Windsor started the third period off with a bang as Drew Palmer scored on a blast from the point on the power-play just twenty-nine seconds into the period. Just thirty-three seconds later, Kyle Makaric scored on a nice shot from the slot that eluded Dupuis, putting Windsor up 3-0. Makaric scored again at 12:46 of the third to increase the Lancers lead to 4-0.
Andrew Wilkins walked in shorthanded at the 17:00 mark of the third and made a nice move to tuck the puck past Van Buskirk, but it was too little, too late for the Wolves.
The Molson 3 Stars of the game were:
1st- Parker Van Buskirk (Windsor)
2nd- Kyle Makaric (Windsor)
3rd Andrew Wilkins (Lakehead)
Both teams are back at it Saturday night at the Fort William Gardens for the series-deciding Game 3, with the opening face-off set for 7:30 PM.