THUNDER BAY – SPORTS – The Lakehead Thunderwolves set off the season with a 3-0 win over Ontario Tech. The Saturday night game set off in a similar manner in the first period with fast skating, hard hitting and few shots on goal.
At the end of the period, the Thunderwolves were on the powerplay. Despite a lot of great effort, there was no scoring.
At the end of the period, the Ridgebacks snuck off on a breakaway. The shot on net hit Thunderwolves goaltender in the mask. That led to a slashing penalty that happened at the very end of the period.
Once play resumed in the second period, the Ridgebacks took advantage of the powerplay.
Ontario Tech drew first blood on the power play early in the second when Ben Blasko knocked in a rebound after Wolves’ goalie Devin Green made a nice initial pad save.
Lakehead freshman Josh Laframboise knotted the score with a power-play marker of his own, flipping the puck past Ridgebacks’ netminder Tyson Teichmann at the 11:33 mark.
Ontario Tech’s Josh Carrick, the younger brother of former Thunderwolf Jake Carrick, replied 37 seconds later to put the Ridgebacks ahead 2-1 heading into the third.
The teams seemed pretty evenly matched through the mid-point of the second period. Devin Green was between the pipes tonight for the Wolves and made some solid saves.
The Wolves were getting outshot through the game, once again the goaltending helped keep the score close. It was a reversal of the Friday contest. The Ridgebacks seemed to gain strength and momentum as the third period continued.
With five minutes left in the game, the Wolves were pressing hard. Down by one goal and playing at full strength the home team was forced to press hard and that has the possibility of coughing up the puck.
The Wolves were unable to get the equalizer, however, and Jack Patterson scored an empty-netter with 53 seconds remaining to ice the game for Ontario Tech.
Shots on goal for the night were 38-25 in favor of the Ridgebacks.
Lakehead was 1-for-3 on the power play, while Ontario Tech went 1-for-5.
The Molson Three Stars of the game were:
1. Devin Green, Lakehead
2. Ben Blasko, Ontario Tech
3. Josh Laframboise, Lakehead
The Thunderwolves will remain home to host the Concordia Stingers for a pair of games next weekend.
