The No. 3 Lakehead Thunderwolves manhandled the Guelph Gryphons 12-3 before 3,481 fans at the Fort William Gardens in Thunder Bay on Friday night. The Thunderwolves were led by Murray Magill with three goals and an assist, Jeff Richards with two goals and two assists, Erik Lodge with two goals, Chris Shaffer with a goal and two assists, and Mike Wehrstedt and Joel Scherban with three assists each. Guelph's goals came from Jesse Pyatt, Ian Staal, and Marc Boisvert. The win raises Lakehead's OUA record to 16-3-1 (23-5-2 overall) and puts Guelph's record at 6-11-2 OUA and 8-18-2 overall.
Lakehead, as always, came out hard and were rewarded at 1:58 when Tyler Williamson knocked home a rebound off a shot by Chris Shaffer. Guelph netminder Ken Ritson had nicely stopped Shaffer's shot but kicked out the rebound to the high slot, where it was pounced on by Williamson. Ritson made a good save off Jeff Richards on a breakaway but the Lakehead pressure kept coming. At 3:11, Austin Wycisk made it 2-0, assisted by Mike Wehrstedt. Guelph went on the powerplay but the speedy Richards broke in alone, dropped Ritson with a deke, and backhanded it upstairs to make it 3-0 at 4:40. Assists went to Jeff Adduono and Robert Hillier. Lakehead went on the powerplay and Ritson came up with two good saves. Guelph's Bob Christie was hauled down on a breakaway at 7:42 and awarded a penalty shot but her fired it wide. Guelph came back and Thunder Bay native Jesse Pyatt silenced his hometown crowd when he beat Lakehead netminder Cory McEachran shorthanded at 8:10. The assist went to Scott Rozendal. Jeff Richards then scored perhaps the goal of the season at the Gardens at 14:09; when he sped past the first Guelph d-man, put the puck through the legs of the second, was tripped and then backhanded the puck high over a sprawled Ritson as he was flying through the air. The assists went to Joel Scherban and Shaffer. The Gryphons went on the powerplay again but couldn't develop anything. Lakehead's McEeachran made two nice saves off Pyatt and Lucas Gill with a minute left. The Wolves then applied the pressure in the last minute and were rewarded at 19:39 when d-man Matt Kenny danced in, put a fake on Ritson, and scored on the backhand. Lakehead outshot Guelph 24-9 in the first.
Guelph opened the second by putting Andrew Gibson in goal and the Wolves Murray Magill welcomed Gibson by scoring at 1:34 by beating him with a low shot between the legs. The assists went to Bryan Duce and Mike Jacobsen. Guelph answered quickly at 2:24, when Ian Staal knocked in a rebound off a shot that bounced hard off the back boards in front of the net. The assist went to Alec Bowes. Lakehead went on a 5-on-3 powerplay and Murray Magill bagged his second at 4:36 from the left circle. Assists went to Jason Lange and Kris Callaway. Guelph's Marc Boisvert quickly replied shorthanded at 5:27 on a weird goal that got by McEachran. The assist went to Clayton Carson. Both teams had some chances through the rest of the period, but play was slow-moving and choppy for most of the rest of the period. Guelph went on the powerplay with a minute left but it was quickly nullified by a four minute minor to the Gryphons with 30 seconds left. Play ended with minors to both teams after the horn sounded to end the second. Shots in the second were 9-6 for Lakehead.
Guelph drew another minor to open the third so Lakehead was playing with a 4-on-3 advantage. The Wolves made no mistake as Richards passed to Scherban parked behind the Guelph goal and Scherban passed in front to d-man Erik Lodge who blasted it in at 53 seconds. Lakehead was still on a 5-on-4, and Lodge scored his second from the high slot at 3:28, with a one-timer set up by a nice pass from Mike Wehrstedt. Guelph drew another minor and Guelph Coach Jeff Reid expressed his displeasure ov