The Lakehead Thunderwolves defeated the Wilfred Laurier Golden Hawks 7-2 in CIS non-conference play. The win raises Lakehead's record to 4-0 (0-0-0 OUA). Lakehead was led by Murray Magill with two goals and two assists, Erik Lodge with a goal and two assists, Robert Hillier with three assists, and Joel Scherban and Chris Shaffer with a goal and an assist each. The game featured a lot of minor penalties to both teams and some hard hitting by the Thunderwolves.
Lakehead applied the early pressure and broke the ice at 4:05 when Murray Magill blasted a seeing-eye rocket blast that beat Laurier goalie Ed VanHerpt low to the stick side. Assists went to Erik Lodge and Robert Hillier. Lakehead made it 2-0 12 seconds later when Kris Calloway beat VanHerpt with a shot that bounced up and over the startled keeper. Assists went to Hillier and Magill. Calloway then laid a thunderous body check that stunned Laurier's Matt Grennier, fortunately Grennier returned to play later in the period. Lakehead goaltender Corey McEachran made a big sliding save at 7:45 off Laurier's Rob Dmytruk. Laurier's VanHerpt then made a fine point-blank stop robbing Lakehead's Wyatt Tunnicliffe at 9:00. Laurier then put the pressure on forcing Lakehead's McEachran to come up with a series of good saves from the 10:00 to 15:00 marks. Shots in the first were 12-9 for Lakehead.
Both teams came out fast in the second playing some good two-way hockey in the early going. Lakehead jumped out to a 3-0 lead at 3:45 when Erik Lodge scored from the front of the net, after a lovely pass from Murray Magill. Jounni Kuokkanen got the other assist. Laurier came very close 30 seconds later when Nick Gibson's shot bounced high over McEachran but McEachran fell backwards on top of it. McEachran followed up with two more good saves from hard Laurier point shots.Captain Bryan Kazarian put Laurier on the board at 7:05 when he pounced on a deflected pass and beat McEachran with a nice move. Assists went to Colwill and Dmytruk.
The goal gave the Golden Hawks some life and they put the heat on the Thunderwolves for the next three minutes. Laurier also replaced VanHerpt in goal with Justin Day. At the 13:00 mark, Lakehead took control and had the Golden Hawks against the ropes as Laurier player Brian Sansom was stickless but the Thunderwolves couldn't beat Day. Sansom then took a penalty by tackling a Lakehead forward and Bill Duncan also took a minor, putting Laurier two men down. Lakehead's Magill made them pay at 13:34 when he knocked in his own powerplay rebound past Day, with assists going to Robert Hillier and Erik Lodge. Lakehead then made it 5-1 at 15:30 when Jeff Adduono scored a shorthanded goal from the slot, after being set up by a beautiful individual rush and pass from Craig Priestlay. The other assist went to Tyler Williamson. Lakehead then took a succession of minors putting them two men short. Lakehead's McEachran made a series of good stops to deny the Hawks.?Shots were 13-11 Lakehead in the second.
The third period opened with both teams drawing minors in the early going. Laurier Captain Kazarian then drew a double minor for spearing and the Thunderwolves' Chris Shaffer made it count when he jumped on a loose puck and knocked it in from the slot at 3:21 on the powerplay. Assists went to Joel Scherban and Mike Self.Both teams had some chances in the middle stretch but neither were able to capitalize. Lakehead Captain Joel Scherban made it 7-1 when he scored a powerplay goal at 10:16 by deflecting in a point shot from Hugo Lehoux. Laurier got one back at 16:17 on the powerplay from Richard Colwill with assists from Nick Gibson and Malcolm Hutt. Laurier outshot Lakehead 12-6 in the third and the Thunderwolves outshot the Golden Hawks 34-29 in the game.
Lakehead Head Coach Pete Belliveau w