The Lakehead Thunderwolves took the second game of their non-conference series against the McGill Redmen with a rough and tumble 6-1 win before 3117 fans at the Fort William Gardens in Thunder Bay, Ontario Saturday night. Lakehead was led by Murray Magill with a goal and two assists and Peter Cava with a goal and an assist. The other Thunderwolves goals came Chris Shaffer, Joel Scherban, Sean Stefanski, and Drew Kivell. McGill's goal came from Sebastien Langlois.
The game also featured a goaltending duel between two rookie netminders; Lakehead's Chris Whitley and McGill's Mathieu Poiras. Whitley played a strong game turning aside 28 McGill shots and even recorded an assist while Poiras, although allowing six goals, made a lot of tough saves. Lakehead outshot McGill 33-29 on the night. The win puts Lakehead's non-conference record to 4-1 while McGill's record goes to 0-3.
The first half of the period saw some fast action and hard hitting from both teams with the best chance being Lakehead's Chris Shaffer fanning on a glorious chance in front of the McGill goal. Lakehead rookie netminder Chris Whitley then made two good saves off McGill's Jean-Michel Daoust. The 'Wolves put on the pressure and the line of Andrew Brown, Peter Cava, and Murray Magill were especially effective. The line's hard work was rewarded when Murray Magill knocked it past Redmen netminder Mathieu Poiras at 10:15. Magill was set up by a great individual rush by Brown. Lakehead made it 2-0 on the powerplay at 13:51 when Drew Kivell fired a high hard wrister from the point that beat a screened Poiras. The assist went to Cava. Lakehead's Sean Stefanski then made a nice dash and cut in from the left side to beat Poiras at 14:58, assisted by Leon Cooper. Lakehead outshot McGill 12-9 in the first.
The second period featured end-to-end action and opened with the "Wolves Chris Whitley making a good stickless save off McGill's Gregoire Leblanc. McGill's Poiras then made a good stop off Lakehead's Leon Cooper. Whitley countered with two quick saves in succession. The Redmen got on the board at 6:51 when Sebastien Langlois redirected a point shot from Chad Blundy that trickled between Whitley's legs. The other assist went to Alexandre Page. The Thunderwolves took a raft of penalties at the halfway mark, including a game misconduct to Drew Kivell. But, it was Lakehead that struck next. Playing a man down, 'Wolves Captain Joel Scherban was set up by Murray Magill and Scherban broke in alone beating Poiras to the left side with a hard low wrist shot at 10:11. The other assist went to Steve Rawski. Both goaltenders came up with some good stops including an incredible rolling glove save by Poiras and he then robbed Lakehead's Cava on a breakaway. Whitley then made a robbery of his own, stopping a sure goal by McGill's Gauthier who was parked in front of the net. Lakehead had a few more shorthanded chances but Poiras was up to the task. McGill outshot Lakehead 12-8.
The third began with more hard hitting and the Redmen applying some pressure. Lakehead's Mark Robinson then had a good chance that was gloved nicely by Poiras. Lakehead drew a minor at the 6:00 mark and the Redmen pressed for a goal but couldn't develop any good scoring chances. Lakehead immediately had their own powerplay opportunity and the 'Wolves assaulted the Redmen goal. Poiras made two excellent saves off Lakehead's Andrew Brown. The Redmen took another penalty and this time Chris Shaffer made them pay at 10:54 when he broke in alone and beat Poiras with a deke and then flipped it upstairs for the goal. Assists went to Robert Hillier and to goalie Chris Whitley. McGill then took a series of minors and it finally cost them at 17:34 when Peter Cava centred a pass from behind the McGill net that deflected off a Red