The Lakehead Thunderwolves kicked off their eleventh season in front of a packed house of 3,449 Friday night at the Fort William Gardens. Despite a valiant effort from the Wolves in a spirited affair, they came up short 5-2.
The game had a good flow to start, as the Thunderwolves gained momentum early on - thanks to a great opening shift from the Matt Caria, Ryan McDonald, Jake Carrick line. There were plenty of hard hits from both sides, including Andrew Wilkins absolutely crushing UQTR forward Felix Lefrancois. Alex Dupuis made some huge saves on some defensive breakdowns, but couldnt stop a sneaky wrist shot from UQTRs Felix Petit, putting UQTR up 1-0 at 11:15 of the first. Lakehead came at the Patriotes hard after the goal, but goalie Vincent Lamontagne made some big saves to keep his club ahead.
Lakehead came out hard to start the second period thanks to the crowd which despite the one-goal deficit, kept the atmosphere rocking in the Gardens. After Devin Welsh and freshman Keith Grondin were stopped on a two-on-one, the Wolves found themselves shorthanded after a high-sticking call on Jake Carrick. That didnt seem to matter as Trevor Gamache broke in on a three-on-one and wired a wrist shot over Lamontagnes shoulder, evening the game at 1-1 at 5:02 of the second. The lone assist on the shorthanded goal was credited to freshman Mitch Fillman. That goal sparked the Wolves as they were hitting everything in an orange jersey. Unfortunately, UQTR pulled ahead at 12:14 of the second stanza on another strange goal by Marc-Andre Laroche that snuck past Dupuis. Lakehead closed out the second period on a five-on-three powerplay and had some great chances but could not finish.
Jadran Beljo missed a sure goal to start the third period after a beautiful feed from Matt Caria. This proved to be costly as UQTRs Marc-Andre Laroche scored his second goal of the game to put the Patriotes up 3-1. The goal didnt deter the Thunderwolves as the Caria-McDonald-Carrick line came right out and pulled within one at 3:42 of the third on a Ryan McDonald goal. The lone assist went to Caria. The barrage continued as UQTRs Felix Lefrancois found himself alone in front of Dupuis and made no mistake to reinstate their two-goal lead at 4-2. The Patriotes got another late marker at 17:35 as Charles Bety put UQTR up 5-2 to cement the victory.
Both teams are back at it on Saturday night at the Gardens, with the opening puck drop at 7:30 p.m.