The No. 3 Lakehead Thunderwolves defeated the Queen's Golden Gaels 4-1 Friday night at the Jock Harty Arena in Kingston. Lakehead was led by defenseman Erik Lodge with a goal and an assist while Peter Cava added two assists. Lakehead's other goals came from Joel Scherban, Austin Wycisk, and Jason Lange. Queen's tally came from Mark Norman. The win puts Lakeheads OUA mark at 7-2-0-0 (14-4-1-1 overall) while Queen's goes to 4-5-0-0 in OUA action and 5-6-0-0 overall.
Lakehead Head Coach Pete Belliveau said his team worked hard. "We worked hard throughout the game, and we came out really well in the first. Their goalie played very well through the first two periods but we finished our chances well in the third and our hard work paid off. It was a good win for the team and for our goaltender Grant McCune who was sharp when things were close early."
The Thunderwolves had a decided edge in play in a somewhat sloppy but clean first period, outshooting Queen's 18-7. Lakehead was rewarded for their efforts when Captain Joel Scherban knocked in a rebound past Queen's netminder Matt Kenney at 6:24. Scherban backhanded in the rebound of a point shot by Mike Self with the other assist going to Chris Shaffer.
The second period was a much more even one but again it was Lakehead getting on the board at 12:13, when Austin Wycisk whacked in a loose puck in front of Queen's Kenney, assisted by Peter Cava and Sean Stefanski. The first penalty of the game was called soon after against the Thunderwolves. Lakehead then drew another minor and went two men down. Lakehead killed of the first penalty but then again drew another minor to go two down again. Lakehead netminder Grant McCune came up with a couple good stops during the man advantage for the Gaels. Queen's Mark Norman finally made it 2-1 at 16:32 with his powerplay one-timer beating McCune, with the assist going to Brad Walford. Queen's outshot Lakehead 20-17 in the second.
Lakehead started the third by drawing another minor and going a man down but they killed it off nicely. Lakehead put on the pressure in the early going and Queen's Kenney was busy in goal. Queen's took a penalty and Lakehead's Erik Lodge made it count at 7:38 when he beat Kenney after being set up nicely by Peter Cava with the other assist going to Tobias Whelan. Lakehead kept up the pressure and were rewarded when Jason Lange made it 4-1 at 10:48 with his first of the OUA season, assisted by Lodge. Queen's then went on the powerplay again but couldn't develop any dangerous scoring chances. Lakehead had a couple more good chances but couldn't beat Kenney to end the game. Lakehead outshot Queen's 16-6 in the third and 51-32 on the game.
The two teams meet again at the Jock Harty Arena for the second game of the series Saturday night at 7:00 pm EST and all the action can be heard live on 580 CKPR AM radio in Thunder Bay and online around the world at www.ckpr.com.
*******************************************************************
This game summary based upon the play-by-play of Chris Prystanski and 580 CKPR's exclusive broadcast of Lakehead Thunderwolves Hockey.