The Lakehead Thunderwolves extended their unbeaten streak to six games with a 6-4 win over the University of Toronto Varsity Blues before 2913 fans Friday night at the Fort William Gardens in Thunder Bay. Jeff Richards was the star for the Wolves with two goals and an assist and both goals were highlight reel goals. Dan Speer continues to show his potential with two goals and Joel Scherban and Andrew Brown scored the other Lakehead goals. Shandor Alphonso had a fantastic game as well with three assists and Drew Kivell and Peter Cava each had two helpers. Simon Barg played a strong game for the Blues with two goals while singles came from Ray Smegal and Julian Sarraino.
Lakehead now has a 7-3-1 OUA record (10-6-3 overall) while the Blues are 0-10-1 in conference action and 1-13-2 overall. Lakehead outshot Toronto 38-28.
The Wolves Richards came out quick in the first and Toronto netminder Ryan Grinnell had to make a good early stop. Toronto went right back up the ice and Barg got his first goal at 52 seconds when he beat Lakehead goalie Chris Whitley top shelf right drawer. The assist went to Anthony Pallota. The Wolves then carried the play and at 6:48 Peter Cava hit a streaking Richards with a long cross ice pass and Richards put the puck neatly between a Toronto d-mans legs and then faked Grinnnell with a deke and backhanded it into the net. The other assist went to Drew Kivell. The Blues struck back quickly when sloppy Lakehead defensive play gave the puck to Julian Sarraino and he fired it past Whitley at 7:19. Assistst went to Greg Palka and Matt McIsaac. Lakehead put on the pressure at the halfway mark and Mark Robinson rang the left Toronto post at 11:45. Lakeheads Brown tied the game at 12:41 when he shot the puck from the left side of the net and the puck bounced off a sliding Grinnells pads. Assists went to Mike Self and Alphonso. Lakeheads Richards then scored another beauty at 18:20 when he rushed in and fired the puck from the left circle and the puck deflected off a Toronto defenders shin pads. Richards, on the fly, pirouetted around the defenseman and made a stabbing one-handed poke at the puck and it went by Grinnell. The assist went to Cava. Lakehead outshot Toronto 13-7 in the first.
Cava started the second with a quick shot turned aside nicely by Grinnell. Play was then very choppy and sloppy for five minutes. At 5:32, Joel Scherban was set up alone in front of the Toronto goal and the Lakehead Captain buried it high. Assists went to Richards and Mike Jacobsen. At 8:59, Lakeheads Alphonso fed a nice pass to Dan Speer at the top of the left circle. Speer cut towards the goal, hesitated to draw the Toronto defender in as a screen, and blasted it past the blinded Grinnell. Another Lakehead defensive letdown gave the Blues their next goal at 9:33 when a shot/pass by Chad Elliot deflected off Bargs shoulder and past Lakeheads Whitley. Whitley then made two good stops over the next few minutes. The Thunderwolves Brown then blasted a shot off the Toronto crossbar at 11:32; followed right away by a Toronto rush and another good save by Whitley in the Lakehead goal. Lakehead took a penalty at 17:38 and Toronto made it count at 18:23 when Ray Smegal beat Whitley with a quick shot assisted by Pallotta and Brenden Sherrard. Dan Speer delivered a crushing open-ice shoulder check on Torontos Scott Malcolm near the end of the period. Shots were 12-10 Lakehead in the second.
The third period was very slow and disjointed for the first six and a half minutes. Toronto performed a nice 3-way passing rush during a 3-on-1 rush but Barg hit the outside of the Lakehead net as he had Whitley down and out. The Wolves came close at 10:55 when Erik Lodge fired point blank from the slot but was denied by Grinnell. Toronto quickly counter-attacked and Lakeheads Whitley had to come up with a nice save of Pallotta. Lakeheads Richards came close again when he fired a