THUNDER BAY – SPORTS – To the dismay of the 1,954 hardy fans at the Fort William Gardens on a bone-chilling Saturday night in Thunder Bay, the Laurier Golden Hawks downed the Lakehead Thunderwolves 5-2 for the second night in a row to sweep the weekend series.
Lakehead came out strong in the first period and took the lead at 16:29 when Cooper Leitch finished off an odd-man rush set up by Brett Wolframe and Austin McDonald with a wrister that sailed past Hawks’ goalie Oliver Lafreniere.
Laurier’s Will Cook scored 31 seconds into the middle frame with a laser that beat Wolves’ netminder Devin Green high on the blocker side to complete a two-on-one break.
Josh Laframboise replied just 23 seconds later when he slipped the puck past a sprawled Lafreniere, with Daniel Del Paggio and Dexter Kuczek assisting.
Lakehead’s lead wouldn’t hold, however, as two power-play goals by Laurier put the Golden Hawks up 3-2 before the second period was over.
Jake Henderson got the first one on a goalmouth scramble at 6:12, and Christian Mroczkowski notched the go-ahead marker at 16:03 with a rocket that beat Green high blocker while the Hawks held a five-on-three man advantage.
Cook extended Laurier’s lead to 4-2 when he was left alone on the doorstep 4:12 into the third, and Danny Hanlon iced the game with an empty-netter with 2:36 remaining in the contest.
Total shots on goal in the game were 36-26 in favour of the Thunderwolves.
For the night, Lakehead was 0-for-3 on the power play, while Laurier went 2-for-4.
The Molson Three Stars of the Game were:
- Will Cook, Laurier
- Christian Mroczkowski, Laurier
- Josh Laframboise, Lakehead
The loss drops the Thunderwolves’ OUA record to 10-11-1 (16-12-1 overall) and leaves Lakehead in a four-way tie for fifth place in the West Division.
The Wolves will be in St. Catharines next weekend for a pair of games against the division-leading Brock Badgers.
