THUNDER BAY – SPORTS – The Lakehead Thunderwolves dropped their road opener with a 5-2 loss to the Ryerson Rams at the Mattamy Centre in downtown Toronto on Thursday night.
Ryerson’s John Carpino opened the scoring when he knocked his own rebound past Lakehead netminder Devin Green midway through the first for the only goal of the period.
The Thunderwolves tied the game 5:35 into the second on a short-handed goal when they caught the Rams sleeping. Matt Alexander and Carson Dubchak fed Kelin Ainsworth who broke in alone on Ryerson goalie Charlie Graham and beat him with a beautiful deke.
Lakehead went ahead 2-1 when Grant Valiquette tipped Tyler Anton’s point shot past Graham at the 11:21 mark with the Wolves on the power play. Patrick Murphy was credited with the second assist.
Aaron Armstrong knotted the score at 2-2 late in the period when he ripped a shot from the high slot that tipped off Green’s blocker before denting the twine.
The Rams got three quick goals early in the third to break the game open, starting with Carpino’s second goal of the night at 2:25 after receiving a nice pass from Armstrong who was operating from behind the Wolves’ net.
Michael Fine extended Ryerson’s lead with a shot from the top of the crease at 4:42, and then Marcus Hinds added another just over a minute later when he skated past Lakehead defenceman Justin Sefton and fired the puck between Green’s pads to round out the scoring.
Ryerson played the game with a short bench as the Rams dressed only 18 players, two less than the usual 20 that are allowed to suit up for OUA games.
Lakehead was 1-for-4 on the power play, while Ryerson went 0-for-3.
Total shots on goal for the game were 39-24 in favor of the Rams.
Lakehead’s three-game road trip continues when the Wolves take on the University of Toronto at Varsity Arena tomorrow night.
