Led by freshman Matt Kaarelas 3 goals, the Lakehead Thunderwolves beat the RMC Paladins 5-2 Friday night in front of 2772 fans at the Fort William Gardens in the OUA regular season opener.
The Wolves controlled the play early on putting every puck they could on RMC goaltender Paul Dorsey.
Lakehead scored first on Kelin Ainsworths first goal as a Thunderwolf, when he banged home a loose puck after a hard point shot from Nathan Bruyere. The other assist went to Andrew Wilkins.
Kaarela increased Lakeheads lead to 2-0 at 16:39 of the first on a nice behind the net feed from Keith Grondin.
The Wolves could have had a couple more goals in the opening frame but Dorsey stood tall in net for the Paladins, robbing both Mike Hammond and Kaarela in tight.
Lakehead took a 3-0 lead early in the second when Hammond deposited the rebound after Ainsworth took the puck hard to the net.
RMC made it a game when Kyle Phillips snuck past the Lakehead defense and slipped the puck past Lakehead netminder Justin McDonald. The Paladins then got to within one at 4:11 of the second on a bad angle goal from Eric Louis-Seize.
Kaarela put Lakehead up 4-2 by scoring his second of the game on a quick shot from the slot. The assist on the goal was credited to Ryan Magill.
In the final frame, Kaarela knocked in Cody Alcocks rebound to complete his hat trick and round out the scoring at 5-2 in favor of the Thunderwolves.
Lakehead outshot RMC 45-30 on the game.
The Molson Three Stars of the game were:
1st Star Matt Kaarela, Lakehead
2nd Star Kelin Ainsworth, Lakehead
3rd Star Keith Grondin, Lakehead
Both teams are back in action Saturday night at the Fort William Gardens. Puck drop is set for 7:30.