The Lakehead Thunderwolves fell to the visiting Saskatchewan Huskies by a 7-5 score Saturday afternoon at the Fort William Gardens in Thunder Bay. It was an exciting rough and tumble, sometimes chippy, game that had just about everything; a penalty shot, breakaways, disallowed goals, big hits, big saves, and even an old time hockey mano a mano fight.
Saskatchewan was led by Dean Beuker with 2 goals and an assist while single goals came from Brent Twordik, Jeff Schmidt, Colin Johnson, Trent Adamus, and Keegan McAvoy. Erik Lodge had two goals and an assist while Jeff Richards had two goals and Mark Robinson had one. Joel Scherban added two assists. The loss puts Lakeheads overall record at 4-3-2 and lift Saskatchewans to 8-2 (1-1 in conference play). Saskatchewan outshot Lakehead 46-38 in the game.
The game was closer than Fridays 4-2 Saskatchewan win but the Huskies still had an edge in the overall play. The Wolves had plenty of chances however, including a penalty shot, a clear breakaway, a missed 5-on-3 man advantage, and perhaps, most crucially, not scoring while having a five minute man advantage in the second due to a Huskies major penalty. Both Saskatchewans Thomas Vicars and Lakeheads Chris Whitley made some great stops in the games even though it was a high scoring game. Penalties were a big factor in the game as each team scored four times with the man advantage.
Lakehead opened scoring in the first on the powerplay at 2:20 when Lodge beat the Huskies Thomas Vicars with assists going to Jason Lange and Murray Magill. Lakehead netminder Chris Whitley made a series of nice stops, including robbing the Huskies Bruce Harrison on a breakaway. The Huskies went on the powerplay and Twordik made it count at 7:12, with assists to Schmidt and Stephen Mann. Lakehead later went two men down but Whitley made a fantastic glove save to rob Beuker at 14:33. But, Beuker got his revenge at 14:33 on the powerplay, with the assist going to Twordik. Lakehead drew even at 19:30 when Andrew Brown, standing alone in the slot, converted a great pass from Scherban. The Huskies outshot Lakehead 17-14 in the first.
Saskatchewan struck quickly in the second when Colin Johnson knocked a rebound past Whitley at 1:01 with the assist going to Curtis Austring. Lakehead then had a goal disallowed as it was ruled the net was moved off its moorings just before the puck went in. Lakeheads Mike Self was then given a minor for a hit from behind and a game misconduct. This was simply a terrible call as the same Huskies player had just given Self a elbow to the face directly in front of the referee. Both players should have been penalized but to only penalize one and to give a misconduct was a poor call indeed. The Huskies made it count when Beuker fired a shot at the Lakehead net that hit Lakeheads Peter Cava in the leg and redirected in past Whitley. The assist went to Bryce Thoma.
Lodge got one back for the Wolves soon after on the powerplay at 9:51, beating Vicars high with a shot from the left circle. Assists went to Mike Jacobsen and Jason Lange. Saskatchewans Matt Girling was given a five minute major and a 10 minute misconduct for a trip in the Lakehead end. After the whistle, Saskatchewans big d-man Mathew Bergenand Lakeheads tough Hugo Lehoux battled in front of the Huskies bench. Bergen connected with some solid shots early and Lehoux replied with a series of hard punches that rocked Bergen and put him on the ice. Both players were ejected for the brawl. Both teams had good chances to score at the end of the period but Vicars and Whitley kept the puck out.
Lakehead started the third on the powerplay and then the Wolves Peter Cava was awarded a penalty shot. Cava put a fake to the right on Vicars but the Huskies netminder stuck out his left pad to deny a goal. Lakeheads Jeff Richards then had a clear breakaway but his stick broke as he was shooting and the sho