The No. 10 Lakehead Thunderwolves mens hockey team lost 4-3 to the No. 3 Laurier Golden Hawks in a hard fought game Sunday night in Waterloo and the result gave the Hawks a 2-1 OUA West best-of-three semi-final playoff series win.
Lakehead overcame three Laurier one-goal leads in the game but could not overcome the fourth Laurier goal; the only scored in the third period which gave the Hawks the game and the series.
Laurier will advance to the OUA West Finals (OUA Semi-Finals) beginning Wednesday against the Western Mustangs. Lakehead will now have a few weeks off until they too return to the ice as hosts of the CIS National Championships beginning Mar. 26th.
These two teams have battled in the playoffs in four consecutive years with both teams coming out on top twice. This year the rivalry did not disappoint again with two games going to overtime and the final game being decided by one goal.
The Wolves go to 3-1-1-0 playoff record, an overall OUA record of 21-10-1-1 (18-8-1-1 regular season) and 27-13-1-1 overall. Laurier goes to 2-2 in the playoffs and 24-5-1-1 in overall OUA play.
Lakeheads scoring came from Kris Hogg, Brock McPherson, and Ryan Baird. Craig Voakes led the Hawks with two goals with singles coming from Mike Galbraith and Colin Williams. Nick Vergeer added two assists for the Hawks.
Action was fast and furious from the beginning and Lakeheads Mitch Maunu fired one off the Laurier crossbar early. Laurier scored early on the powerplay on a goal by Craig Voakes at 5:18 but the Wolves replied 29 seconds later when Kris Hogg knocked it in. The Hawks took the lead again at 13:26 on Voakes second goal of the game. Official shots on goal in the first were 15-10 Laurier.
The second period saw both teams getting good scoring chances and both Lakeheads Chris Whitley and Lauriers Jeff MacDougald played very well in their respective goals. Whitley made two nice saves off Hawks sniper Jean-Michel Rizk and a number of other big stops in the first 15 minutes of the second. Neither team could solve their opponents goaltender until the final five minutes of the second which saw a flurry of goals. Lakeheads Brock McPherson tied the score at two apiece at 15:54. Laurier took the lead again at 18:32 on a goal by Mike Galbraith. However, the Wolves tied it again 13 seconds later on a goal by Ryan Baird.
The third period saw the Hawks Colin Williams give the Hawks the 4-3 lead at 6:57. Lakehead pulled goaltender Whitley at the end of the game but could not get the equalizer.
Lakehead outshot Laurier 35-32 on the night. Lakehead was 0-3 on the powerplay and Laurier was 1-4.
Game Summary:
Lakehead 3 at Laurier 4
Mar 1, 2009 - Sun Life Arena, Waterloo Recreation Complex
Scoring:
Lakehead 1 2 0 - 3
Laurier 2 1 1 - 4
1st Period
1, Laurier, Voakes 2 (Vergeer, Kennedy), 5:18 (pp).
2, Lakehead, Hogg 3 (Dobben), 5:49.
3, Laurier, Voakes 3 (Bellows, Vergeer), 13:26.
Penalties-Hogg Lkhd (hooking), 3:53; Maccarone Wlu (cross checking), 13:53; Kivell Lkhd (interference), 18:57.
2nd Period
4, Lakehead, McPherson 6 (Soares, Kivell), 15:54.
5, Laurier, Galbraith 1 (Girard), 18:32.
6, Lakehead, Baird 2 (Dobben, Hogg), 18:45.
Penalties-Alphonso Lkhd (roughing), 2:30; MacDougald Wlu (roughing), 2:30; Girard Wlu (roughing), 10:10; Kivell Lkhd (elbowing), 13:38; Brown Lkhd (roughing), 19:02; Bellows Wlu (slashing), 19:02.
3rd Period
7, Laurier, Williams 1 (Peacock, Magistrale), 6:57.
Penalties-Smith Lkhd (interference), 12:47; Rizk Wlu (interference), 13:25.
Shots on Goal
Lakehead 10-16-9-35
Laurier 15-6-11-32.
Power-play Opportunities
Lakehead 0 of 3;
Laurier 1 of 4.
Goalies
Lakehead, Whitley 3-1-1-0 (32 shots-28 saves);
Laurier, MacDougald 2-0-1-0 (35 shots-32 saves).