The No. 5 Lakehead Thunderwolves defeated the Waterloo Warriors 5-2 Saturday night before 2880 fans at the Fort William Gardens in Thunder Bay. The win gave the Thunderwolves a sweep as they had defeated the Warriors 5-1 Friday night. Lakehead's conference record now stands at 13-3 in conference play and 18-7-2 overall. Waterloo's record falls to 0-15-1 in OUA play and 1-17-2 overall.
The Thunderwolves peppered Waterloo goaltender Jeff Johnston with 46 shots, while Lakehead's Cory MacEachran faced 20 Waterloo shots. Lakehead controlled the play, seemingly at will, for most of the game. However, as in Friday's game, Waterloo's tight checking and hard hitting slowed the game to a crawl most of the night. This, combined with Waterloo goaltender's Jeff Johnston strong play, mostly frustrated the Thunderwolves explosive offense. Waterloo also generated a few dangerous fast counterattack chances, after long periods of being penned in their own end, that sometimes caught the Lakehead defense napping.
Lakehead was lead by Bryan Duce with two goals and an assist, Jason Lange with a goal and an assist, and Wyatt Tunnicliffe with two assists. Lakehead newcomer Kris Bragnalo recorded his first goal in only his second game. He also got an assist in his first game Friday night. Waterloo's Mike Clarke played a solid game, recording two assists and delivering some hard hits.
The first period was very choppy, broken up by a lot of stoppages in play. Lakehead had some great chances early when Chris Shaffer and Joel Scherban had three shorthanded opportunities that were turned away by Waterloo's Johnston. Lakehead's MacEachran made a nice save off Adam Metherel, while screened, at 16:00. Thunderwolves Captain Joel Scherban then opened the scoring at 16:26 with a hard wrist shot that beat Johnston stick side, assisted by Wyatt Tunnicliffe and Bradley Bartlett. Waterloo's Johnston made a great stick save to rob Lakehead's Jeff Adduono at 18:20. The Thunderwolves outshot Waterloo 17-6 in the period.
The second period was the best period of the game, featuring some good offense, a lot of scoring, and some major skirmishing and scrums as both teams started to rough each other up. Lakehead picked up the pace early, taking it to the Warriors. Lakehead's Bryan Duce made it 2-0 at 4:59, when he knocked in a rebound off a shot by Jason Lange. The other assist went to Murray Magill. Jason Lange made it 3-0 at 10:05, assisted by Jeff Adduono and Bryan Duce. Adduono made an excellent cross-crease pass to Lange who made a nice fake on Johnston and flipped it over the sprawled Waterloo goaltender with his backhand. Bryan Duce made it 4-0 at 13:12 when he knocked in a quick goal from the slot, set up neatly by Ryan Johnson. Then Waterloo's Geoff Rivers made it 4-1 at 13:49 when he knocked in a rebound off a shot by Mike Clarke. Waterloo scored again at 15:55, when Richard Scott knocked in a rebound off a shot by Clarke, with the other assist going to Mark Robson. Jeff Johnston was again sharp in the Waterloo goal, making a lot of good saves, including a great glove save off Lakehead's Bryan Duce. The period ended with Lakehead's Mark Robinson missing the net on a breakaway. Lakehead outshot Waterloo 20-6 in the second period.
The third period was again very slow for the first half, with both teams looking really tired. Waterloo picked it up in the final 10 minutes forcing Lakehead's MacEachran to make some tough saves, including a great glove save off Darren Fischer at 14:50. The Thunderwolves Kris Bragnalo finished the night's scoring when he notched his first goal of the season at 16:56, set up by two great passes from Wyatt Tunnicliffe and Matt Kenny. Lakehead outshot Waterloo 9-8 in the third and 46-20 in the game.