A balanced attack and solid goaltending led the Lakehead Thunderwolves past the Regina Cougars by a 7-2 margin Friday night at the Fort William. Lakehead is now 3-2 overall while the Cougars go to 1-5-0-1 overall.
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The Wolves scoring came from Brock McPherson, Pierre-Marc Guillbault, Andrew Brown, Tobias Whelan, Mitch Maunu, Shandor Alphonso, and Richard Molenaar. Alphonso and Molenaar added assists while Mark Soares and Andy Zulyniak had two helpers each.
Brennan Chapman and Caine Pierpoint scored for the Cougars. Regina outshot Lakehead 37-34 on the night. Lakehead netminder Chris Whitley played a solid game for the Wolves and, although he allowed seven goals, Regina goalie Adam Ward made a number of big saves in the match.
Scoring opened at 10:13 of the first when Chapman put the Cougars up by one; assisted by a nice pass from Ryan Martin with the other assist going to Ryan Cruse. McPherson tied it up for Lakehead at 12:16; deflecting a shot from the point by Jordan C. Smith with the other assist going to Soares. Shots were even at 13 in the opening frame.
Lakeheads Whitley made a great save off the Cougars Kyle Ross at the 50 second mark. Reginas Ward made two big stops in the early going of the second; one of Lakeheads Nathan Breukelman and then a big glove save to rob the Wolves Kris Hogg. The Wolves Guillbault broke the deadlock at 12:17 when he fired a rocket that beat Ward high. Assists went to Soares and Breukelman. Andrew Brown made it 3-1 at 18:14; converting a great set-up from Kris Hogg. The other assist went to Zulyniak. Lakehead outshot Regina 8-6 in the second.
The Wolves quickly made it 4-1 at 1:16 of the third when Whelan beat Ward on a breakaway with a nice fake. The assist went to Zulyniak. Regina got back within two at 3:23 on the powerplay when Caine Pierpoint banged in a perfect pass from Shayne Emmons with the other assist going to Cody Thoring. However the Wolves struck again at 7:39; when Mitch Maunus long shot from the point was deflected by a Regina d-man past Ward. The assist went to Molenaar. Shandor Alphonso made it 6-2 right after at 8:28 when he blasted a roof daddy rocket over Wards right shoulder. The assist went to Drew Kivell. Lakeheads final goal came at 12:15 when Molenaar beat a sprawled out Ward; assisted by Mike Wehrstedt and Alphonso. Regina had quite a few shots in the third; but Lakehead netminder Whitley played good positionally and kept the puck out. Shots on goal were 16-11 for Regina in the final stanza.
The Molson's Three Stars, as chosen by Bryan Wyatt of CKPR Radio, were:
1) Shandor Alphonso Lakehead
2) Tobias Whelan Lakehead
3) Jordan C. Smith Lakehead
The two teams face off again Saturday night at 7:30 pm EST and will be videowebcast live with ordering information available at the Lakehead website at www.thunderwolveshockey.com by clicking on the Broadcast section on the main page.