The Lakehead Thunderwolves improved their record to 3-0 in CIS non-conference play with a 5-3 win over the Laurier Golden Hawks. The first period was all Lakehead as they came out firing the puck. Lakehead opened the scoring at 3:13 when Murray Magill knocked in a rebound, assisted by Wyatt Tunnicliffe and Robert Hillier. Tyler Williamson made it 2-0 at 5:49, assisted by Jeff Richards and Bryan Duce. Kris Callaway gave the Thunderwolves a 3-0 lead when his hard shot from the point deflected off a Laurier defenseman and beat goaltender Justin Day. Lakehead had many more chances in the period, outshootingt Laurier 20-4 in the first period.
The second period was a little rougher as both teams came out hitting and the play was a little more even with both sides developing some good scoring chances. Laurier's David Brown missed a good opportunity at 3:20, sliding the puck past an empty Lakehead goal. Lakehead had a good chance 12 seconds later when Jeff Richards broke in forcing Laurier's Day to come up with a good stop. Laurier then had some good chances during the powerplay but couldn't capitalize near the midway point of the period. Lakehead then put on the pressure with Day making a good stop off the Thunderwolves' Mike Wehrstedt at 9:45.
Laurier's Tim Parsons put the Golden Hawks on the board at 11:45 on the powerplay when he beat McCune standing all alone in front of the Lakehead goal. Lakehead then applied the pressure and had some close calls but couldn't beat Day. Laurier then broke up the ice and Tim Parsons notched his second at 16:18 to make it 3-2, Parsons knocked in a nice pass from Riley Moher from behind the net. Lakehead's Jeff Richards made it 4-2 at 19:27 when he fired a puck in front of the net that deflected off a Laurier defenseman. The period ended with some rough play after the Lakehead goal resulting in some majors to both teams. Shots on goal were 12-6 for Lakehead in the second.
Lakehead's Kris Callaway put Lakehead up 5-2 at 1:13 of the third when he fired a hard shot from the point on the powerplay. Assists for Callaway's second goal went to Chris Shaffer and Bryan Duce. Laurier's Day came up with two big glove saves off of Lakehead's Craig Priestlay and Kris Calloway. Lakehead's McCune made a good glove save off a point shot from Laurier's Riley Moher. Laurier then made it 5-3 when Nick Gibson scored on the powerplay at 18:18, assisted by Rob Dmytruk and Matt Grennier. Shots were 11-5 for Lakehead in the third and 43-15 in the game.
Lakehead Head Coach Pete Belliveau said he would take the win but the Thunderwolves needed to be more consistent. "We have to play better over 60 minutes, they beat us 3-2 over the last 50 minutes of the game. We need to be more cohesive, our play was sporadic and we let them catch up with us."
The Molson's Three Stars, as selected by TBT Sports Director Bryan Wyatt, were:
1)Lakehead: Kris Callaway
2)Lakehead: Murray Magill
3)Laurier: Tim Parsons
Attendance at the game was 2777. The two teams take to the ice again Saturday night at 7:30 at the Fort William Gardens.