The No. 3 Lakehead Thunderwolves skated past the Ryerson Rams by an 9-1 score Friday night before 3237 fans at the Fort William Gardens in Thunder Bay. Lakehead was led by Peter Cava with 2 goals and an assist, Jeff Richards with 3 assists, and Erik Lodge with 2 goals. Joel Scherban and Tobias Whelan each had a goal and an assist. Singles came from Leon Cooper, Andrew Brown, and Murray Magill. Austin Wycisk, Dene Poulin, and Sean Stefanski each had two assists. Matt Murphy scored for Ryerson. Lakehead outshot Ryerson 59-14 in the game. The win puts Lakehead's OUA mark at 9-2-0-0 (15-4-1-1 overall) while Ryerson's OUA record goes to 0-12-0-0 (0-15-0-0 overall).
The Thunderwolves pressed hard in the first five minutes; peppering Ryerson netminder Joel Schriver. Ryerson also had one good chance at the five minute mark when Lakehead goaltender Grant McCune had to be fast to block a quick shot from the left side by Ryerson's Jason Francis. A Ryerson penalty proved costly to the Rams as Lakehead's Jeff Richards found Erik Lodge back door on the left side and Lodge knocked it in at 10:59. The other assist went to Mike Self. Ryerson's Ross Marshall broke in alone off the following faceoff and Grant McCune had to do a great split save to prevent the goal. Peter Cava then made it 2-0 at 10:48 when he was fed beautifull by Austin Wycisk and beat Schriver with a deke and a backhand flip over the Rams' netminder's left shoulder. The other assist went to Murray Magill. The Rams went on the powerplay and Ryerson's Matt Murphy caught the Wolves' defense napping; breaking in alone on McCune and firing it in the top right corner at 13:55. The assists went to James Byck and Chris Pethick. Action picked up but Lakehead still had the edge in play. Lakehead's Joel Scherban picked off an errant Rams' pass and broke down the left side; finding Erik Lodge all alone in front of the net and Lodge banged it in at 18:26. The other assist went to Mike Self. Ryerson drew a minor at the end of the period and would start the second one man down. Lakehead outshot Ryerson 22-3 in the first.
Lakehead started the second on the powerplay and made it count when Peter Cava got his second of the game, beating Schriver with a high flip shot at 1:26. Assists went to Jeff Richards and netminder Grant McCune. The Thunderwolves kept up the pressure and buzzed the Rams' goal and Leon Cooper knocked in a loose puck at 4:51, assisted by Mike Wehrstedt and Sean Stefanski. Ryerson went on the powerplay but couldn't generate any scoring chances. Lakehead kept up the attack on Ryerson and Schriver made a number of excellent saves. Lakehead broke through again at 14:30 when Andrew Brown converted a nice pass from Dene Poulin. Ryerson came close at 15:09 when Chris Sutton bounced one off the right post. Lakehead made it 7-1 while shorthanded at 17:52 when Jesse Baraniuk fell all alone in front of the Ryerson goal, got up, shot once, got the rebound and passed to a wide open Joel Scherban who banged it in. The other assist went to Richards. Lakehead kept up the barrage and Peter Cava set up Murray Magill who knocked it in at 19:47. The other assist went to Wycisk. Lakehead outshot Ryerson 20-5 in the second.
Ryerson put Alex Turgeon-Cote in goal to start the third but Lakehead's Tobias Whelan quickly knocked in a rebound at 1:04, assisted by Stefanski and Poulin. Lakehead's Richards rang the crossbar at 3:34. Lakehead outshot Ryerson 17-6 in the third and 59-14 on the night.
The Molson Three Stars, as chosen by Dave Trifunov of the Thunder Bay Chronicle Journal, were:
1)Lakehead: Peter Cava
2)Lakehead: Erik Lodge
3)Lakehead: Austin Wycisk
The two teams play again Saturday night at 7:30 pm EST at the Fort William Gardens.