The Lakehead Thunderwolves fell 7-1 to the Windsor Lancers in game one of the best-of-three OUA West Division finals in front of a packed house at the South Windsor Arena on Thursday night.
The Lancers game out of the gate quickly and controlled the pace of play for most of the first period, and unfortunately for the Thunderwolves, that trend continued for most of the evening.
Richard Cameron opened the scoring 7:27 into the game on a deflection that eluded Lakehead goalie Jeff Bosch, and then at the 12:12 mark, Lancer defenceman Saverio Posa scored on a backhand shot after sailing right by the Lakehead defence.
Less than a minute later, Spencer Pommels scored from in-close to make it 3-0 for Windsor to round out the scoring in the period. Had it not been for some nice saves by Jeff Bosch, the Windsor lead could have been even more after 20 minutes.
The Lancers continued to pour it on in the middle stanza, and at 7:07 Pommels scored his second goal of the game when he broke in on Bosch while Windsor was short-handed.
Just after the half-way point, Justin McDonald replaced Bosch in the Lakehead goal and was forced to make some big stops right off the bat as the Lancers kept applying the pressure. That pressure paid off for Windsor when Derek Lanoue fired a hard one-timer from the slot over McDonalds glove at the 15:43 mark to give the Lancers a 5-0 lead.
Shortly after, Lakeheads best scoring chance of the period came when Mike Quesnele broke in alone on Windsor netminder Parker Van Buskirk and rang one off the post.
Windsor didnt let up in a very chippy third period, and extended its lead to 6-0 when Ryan Crevatin scored on a screened one-timer that McDonald never saw at 7:49, and then Matt Beaudoin made it 7-0 for the Lancers with a power play marker at 12:16.
Lakehead broke the Windsor shutout late in the game when Keith Grondin knocked home a rebound from Cody Alcock, making the final score 7-1 for the Lancers.
The series will now shift back to Thunder Bay for game two on Saturday night, and if necessary, game three on Sunday night.