TORONTO – A three-goal outburst in the opening period, backed-up by the razor-sharp goaltending of Devin Green led the Lakehead Thunderwolves to a 5-1 victory over the University of Toronto at Varsity Arena on Friday night.
Lakehead’s first three goals came in a span of less than six minutes, beginning with Scott Gall’s marker at 12:26 with Dillon Donnelly assisting.
Tomas Soustal found the back of the net at 15:16 with the assists going to Dylan Butler and Callum Fryer, and two minutes later Daniel Del Paggio scored with Gall and Donnelly getting the helpers.
Alex Bishop replaced Frederic Foulem in the Blues’ goal to start the second period and played well, but Lakehead’s Dexter Kuczek beat him at the 11:34 mark off a feed from Josh Laframboise to put the Wolves up 4-0.
Evan MacEachern got Toronto’s lone goal of the night on a power play opportunity with 5:53 to go in the middle frame.
Jordan Larson added an insurance marker 6:50 into the final stanza when he tipped Caleb Boman’s point shot behind Bishop, with Fryer picking up his second assist.
While Lakehead controlled the play for most of the first two periods, Toronto showed no quit and created plenty of good scoring chances in the third, but Green would stymie the Blues every time they did.
Total shots on goal in the contest were 33-32 in favour of the Thunderwolves.
Lakehead did not convert on its lone power play opportunity in the game, while Toronto went one-for-two.
The Thunderwolves saluted the fans after the game, which delighted the predominantly pro-Lakehead crowd in attendance at Varsity Arena.
The win, Lakehead’s fifth in a row, improves its OUA record to 6-2 (10-3 overall) and moves the Thunderwolves up another spot into second place in the West Division standings.
Lakehead’s road trip will conclude tomorrow night when the Wolves square off against the Varsity Blues once again, with the opening face-off set for 7:00 p.m.
