The Lakehead Thunderwolves mens hockey team fell 2-0 to the Saint Marys Huskies Saturday night at the Fort William Gardens in Thunder Bay, Ontario. The loss give the Wolves a weekend split with the Huskies and the Wolves overall record goes to 2-2 with St. Marys record going to 3-3.
St. Marys goals came from Cam Fergus and Marc Rancourt. Fergus also added an assist. SMU netminder Brandon Verge recorded the shutout; turning aside 25 Lakehead shots. Lakehead netminder Chris Whitley made some big saves for Lakehead.
Shots on goal were 27-25 Saint Marys on the night. The Huskies were 1-7 on the powerplay while the Wolves were 0-7.
The Huskies had the edge in play for much of the first period with Lakehead mounting sporadic counter-attacks to test Verge. Ferguss goal in the first stirred some controversy as the puck clearly went in but the goal judge and referee didnt see it go in. The Huskies were on the powerplay and Lakeheads Mark Soares came out of the box after play continued when no goal was given to Fergus. Soares was hit by a pass out of the box and went in and scored of Verge. However, after a discussion with the linesman, who saw the puck go in, the referee awarded Fergus his powerplay tally about a minute after it was actually scored and Soares goal was disallowed.
The Wolves played about half the second period in the penalty box but the Huskies couldnt beat Whitley. The third period was the reverse as Lakehead had three straight powerplays but couldnt beat Verge. The Wolves pulled Whitley with a minute left and Rancourt scored an empty netter to put the game away.
The Molson's Three Stars, as chosen by Reuben Villagracia, were:
1) Saint Marys: Brandon Verge
2) Saint Marys: Cam Fergus
3) Lakehead: Chris Whitley
The Wolves will head south on Sunday for their third game of the weekend as they bus along the Lake Superior coast to Duluth, Minnesota Sunday for a night game against the NCAA Div I University of Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs of the WCHA Conference. Sunday nights game at the DECC Arena in Duluth goes at 6:07 pm CST (7:07 pm EST) and may be heard by going to the UMD site at http://umdbulldogs.com/bulldogs-on-the-air.php at 6:07 PM CST. (7.07 pm EST)