Lakehead comes up short against Ryerson for third loss in 4 games.
The Thunderwolves who lost in the first round of the 2020 playoffs to the Rams got caught early as Ryerson picked off a kicked pass at their own blue line and head up ice on a 3 on 1 and Kyle Bollers wristed a shot past Blake Weyrick at 1:07 of the first period to give Ryerson the early lead 1-0.
Later in the period Jesse Barwell would fire a shot at Weyrick and it ricocheted off Weyrick's blocker and into the net to put Ryerson up 2-0.
In the second period Lakehead would strike five minutes in when Stephen Fox would knock the puck in on a Kuzcek pass right in front of Perissini to cut the lead to 2-1.
Ryerson would respond five minutes later Addison would poke one in from in close by Brock Aiken who came in, in relief of Weyrick to put the Rams up 3-1.
The second period also saw some big hits by Lakehead as Blackwell would lay the boom on Ryerson's Zachary Shankar in the offensive zone. Kyle Auger and Noah Massie would also lay a couple of big hits on Shankar in the defensive end of the ice on the same shift.
Ryerson's David Miller would hit Noah Massie with a high hard elbow after his hit on Shankar which drew a crowd and Lakehead's Troy Williams would come in and mixed it up with Miller which led to both players being ejected for fighting.
Lakehead would come out with purpose in the third period and cut the lead to 3-2 when Kevin Stiles would pick up the puck after Spencer Blackwell blocked a clearing attempt and buried a wrist shot past Perissini.
Aikens would make a big save mid period on a point-blank shot from Chris Playfair to keep Lakehead with in one.
With Aikens out of the net in the in the last minute and a half of the game Lakehead would have multiple chances to send the game to overtime but Perissini closed the door every time and the Wolves would come up short losing 3-2.
Lakehead looks to rebound on Friday night when the series continues and it will conclude on Saturday with puck drop 7pm both nights.
Molson 5 Forks 3 Stars of the Game:
- Kyle Bollers - Ryerson
- Kevin Stiles - Lakehead
- Stephen Fox - Lakehead