UQTR goaltender Alexis Goulet was the story of the night as his No. 9 UQTR Patriotes defeated the No. 3 Lakehead Thunderwolves 5-4 Friday night before 2621 fans at the Fort William Gardens in Thunder Bay. Goulet turned aside 44 Lakehead shots, including about a dozen incredible saves, as the Thunderwolves outshot UQTR 48-20 in the game. Jerome Bergeron had 4 assists for UQTR while Jean Morin had two goals and an assist. UQTR's other goals came from Pierre Morvan, Nicolas Pelletier, and Eric Jean. Lakehead's Andrew Brown had two goals while singles came from Francis Walker, and Austin Wycisk.
The first period was a rather slow paced affair but started with UQTR goaltender Alexis Goulet making an incredible sliding stacked pad save to rob Lakehead's Mike Wehrstedt. Lakehead kept up the pressure up for three minutes then Les Patriotes had a couple chances at the 5:00 mark. Lakehead then went on the powerplay but the Wolves couldn't get anything serious going. UQTR's Pierre Morvin then blasted a shot from the left circle that just missed the top right corner of the Lakehead net. Les Patriotes' Morvin then fired a wrist shot that handcuffed Lakehead netminder Grant McCune but the goalie jumped on the rebound. UQTR's Goulet then slid across the goal to make another incredible save to rob Lakehead's Francis Walker. UQTR got on the board first at 12:36 when Nicolas Pelletier roofed a wicked wrist shot over the top right shoulder of McCune, assisted by Jerome Bergeron and Jean Morin. Pierre Morvan made it 2-0 at 13:45 when he fired a shot that beat McCune low stick side, assisted by Frederic Lavoie. UQTR went on the powerplay and came close at 17:30 Mathieu Daigle jumped on a rebound and ripped a shot that went off McCune's facemask. Lakehead's Sean Stefanski came close when his shot was juggled by Goulet and then gloved. Lakehead's Jason Lange then just missed when he fired a rebound off Goulet's pads. Shots on goal in the first were 11 apiece.
Lakehead played a strong second period, out-hustling and outplaying UQTR, but letting in two costly goals on the penalty kill. The second opened with some back and forth action with neither team coming close in the first three minutes. Then, Lakehead's Francis Walker cut in from the left side and tucked the put neatly between Goulet's legs at 3:26, assisted by Chris Shaffer and Steve Rawski. Lakehead's Chris Shaffer followed with a similar cut in move but just fired wide. The Wolves then put on the pressure, buzzing Les Patriotes' goal. Lakehead's Mike Wehrstedt couldn't knock in a loose puck and then blasted a cannon shot over Les Patriotes' net. Lakehead took a bench minor at the halfway point but killed it off with some excellent pk work. Lakehead kept up the pressure and were rewarded for some hard work in the UQTR end at 12:18 when Andrew Brown knocked the loose puck in past Goulet, assisted by Sean Stefanski and Jouni Kuokkanen. The Wolves kept up the pressure and Austin Wycisk deftly backhanded the puck past Goulet at 13:12, assisted by Mike Self and Mike Wehrstedt. Lakehead's Lange then came close when he cut in and fired on Goulet. Lakehead's Hugo Lehoux then fired a blast from the point that was gloved nicely by Goulet. Lakehead took a minor with four minutes left and UQTR's Jean Morin roofed a rebound at 16:07, assisted by Pelletier and Bergeron. Lakehead then went on the powerplay and Dene Poulin just missed with a point blast. UQTR killed of the man advantage and the went on the powerplay with a minute left. Morin banged in his second of the game with 3 seconds left to give Les Patriotes back the lead, assisted by Morvan and Bergeron. Lakehead outshot UQTR 16-7 in the second.
UQTR came out fast in the third for the first three minutes but couldn't get their offense organized. Lakehead then took over and moved up the ice and Mike Self had two good shots from the point that were handled by Goulet. A shot from the point by L