THUNDER BAY – SPORT – Despite outshooting York 51-25, The Lakehead Thunderwolves were downed 5-2 by the Lions in front of 2,247 fans at the Fort William Gardens on a chilly Friday night in Thunder Bay.
After a scoreless first period, York’s Reid Jackman blew the game wide open with a natural hat trick in the second.
His first came at the 1:57 mark with a shot that slipped between the pads of Wolves’ netminder Devin Green. He added another at 8:58, and got his third on a Lions’ power play at 14:42 on a shot the bounced over Green’s blocker and behind him before the puck trickled over the goal line.
Lakehead’s Tomas Soustal narrowed the gap to 3-1 when he knocked a rebound past York goaltender Mack Shields in the final minute of the period, with Dylan Butler and Sam Schutt getting the assists.
Scott Feser restored York’s three-goal cushion 5:17 into the third, but Daniel Del Paggio scored after receiving a nice cross-crease pass from Scott Gall to draw the Wolves to within two at 8:37, with Brett Wolframe, also getting a helper.
Lakehead pulled Green for an extra attacker with about two minutes to go and continued to apply plenty of pressure in the Lions’ zone, but Nick Zottl got an empty-net goal with 1:14 remaining to ice the game for York.
For the night, the Thunderwolves were 0-for-5 with the man-advantage, while the Lions went 1-for-3.
The Molson Three Stars of the game were:
- Reid Jackman, York
- Mack Shields, York
- Daniel Del Paggio, Lakehead
The loss snaps Lakehead’s six-game winning streak, but the Wolves will look to start a new one tomorrow night when they face-off against the Lions again beginning at 7:00 p.m.
