TORONTO – LU SPORTS – Despite squandering two three-goal leads, the Lakehead Thunderwolves hung on and defeated the Toronto Varsity Blues 6-5 in an overtime shootout at Varsity Arena on Friday night.
Lakehead got two goals less than a minute apart to take a 2-0 lead in the opening period. E.J. Faust struck first on a shot that slipped through Toronto netminder Andrew Hunt’s legs at 13:28, and then Cody Alcock powered his way straight to the net and flipped the puck over Hunt at 14:13.
Brennen Dubchak put the Wolves up by three on a goal assisted by his brother Carson 4:42 into the second period, but Aidan Wallace got the Blues on the board just past the midway point of the game to cut the lead to 3-1.
Brennen Dubchak notched his second of the night on a Thunderwolves’ power play, with assists going to Carson Dubchak and Justin Sefton to put Lakehead up 4-1 heading into the final 20 minutes of regulation time.
It was in the last half of the third period when things started to unravel for the Wolves.
Max Lindsay fired a hard wrister past Lakehead goalie Devin Green just before the ten-minute mark, and three minutes later Connor Cleverley scored on a bouncing puck that eluded Green to pull the Blues to within one.
Cody Alcock gave the Wolves a two-goal cushion at 13:54 when he beat Hunt high on the blocker side after taking a nice drop pass from Kelin Ainsworth, with Patrick Murphy getting the second helper.
Wallace got his second goal of the night on a Toronto power play by knocking home a rebound after a nice initial save by Green with less than five minutes to go.
The Blues tied the game at 5-5 with 1:21 remaining after Green bobbled a point shot that he couldn’t trap with his glove and Connor Bebb pounced on the rebound.
Both teams had plenty of scoring chances in the first and second overtime periods, but both goaltenders stood tall in their respective nets to force the game into a shootout.
Brennen Dubchak was the first shooter and roofed it on Hunt’s glove side, but Toronto’s Matt Campagna came in slow and beat Green with an impressive one-handed deke to respond for the Blues.
After the second shooters were stymied for both sides, Kelin Ainsworth fired the puck high on Hunt who got his glove on it, but not enough as it trickled past him into the net.
Toronto’s Dean Klomp had a final chance to extend the shootout, but wasn’t able to get the puck past Green and Lakehead took the win.
Total shots on goal for the night were 33-28 for Toronto.
Lakehead went 1-for-4 on the power play while Toronto was 1-for-5.
The Wolves only dressed 19 players in the contest as Evan Mignault (illness) and Sam Schutt (injury) were unable to go.
The win improves Lakehead’s OUA record to 2-2 (2-6 overall), which puts the Wolves in sixth place in the ten-team West Division.
The two teams will take to the ice again tomorrow night to conclude Lakehead’s three-game road trip.
