Wolves rally to stun McGill Redmen
#LSN_Sports #LSN_Thunderwolves : Daniel Del Paggio
MONTREAL, QUEBEC - October 21, 2018 (LSN) What a difference a day makes.
24 hours after falling 8-1 to McGill, the Lakehead Thunderwolves showed that turnabout is fair play by rallying to stun the Redmen 7-5 at the McConnell Arena in Montreal on Saturday night.
After falling behind 2-0 in the first period on markers by McGill’s Antoine Dufort-Plante and Nikolas Brouillard, it looked like the rematch would be more of the same. But Lakehead dominated the second period and stormed back with five unanswered goals to send the Redmen reeling and take a 5-2 lead after 40 minutes.
Jordan King struck first on a Lakehead power play just 1:59 into the middle frame and then Daniel Del Paggio knotted the score at 8:59.
Caleb Boman’s slapper flew past McGill goalie Louis-Philip Guindon’s glove to put the Wolves ahead for the first time at 12:56, and Josh Laframboise redirected Jonathon Masters’ shot to dent the twine at 15:32.
Scott Gall finished off the second-period onslaught at 16:25 when he sailed down the left wing and fooled Guindon by outwaiting him before going high on the short side.
Brouillard took advantage of a McGill power play opportunity when he blasted a one-timer past Lakehead netminder Devin Green 44 seconds into the third, but Laframboise replied for the Wolves by finishing off an odd-man rush a minute later to restore Lakehead’s three-goal cushion.
Aaron Armstrong was the recipient of a lucky bounce and scored on a goalmouth scramble at 7:49 to narrow the gap to 6-4.
With the McGill net empty in favor of an extra attacker, Dufort-Plante went top shelf from just outside the crease to pull the Redmen to within one with 1:54 remaining.
That’s as close as the home side would get, as Laframboise completed his hat trick with an empty netter at 19:19 to seal the deal for the Thunderwolves.
Lakehead freshman Dexter Kuczek also had a three-point night, picking up a trio of helpers.
Total shots on goal in the game were 44-29 in favor of the Redmen, but those numbers were not indicative of the Wolves’ solid play at both ends of the ice.
For the night, the Thunderwolves went 1-for-2 on the power play while the Redmen were 1-for-6.
The win levels Lakehead’s OUA record at 2-2, and improves its overall record to 6-3.
The Thunderwolves will return home next weekend for a pair of games against the RMC Paladins, with the opening face-off set for 7:00 p.m. at the Fort William Gardens on both Friday and Saturday nights.
Thunderwolves defeated at McGill Friday night
In Lakehead’s first road test of the OUA regular season, the Thunderwolves were defeated 8-1 by the defending league champion McGill Redmen at the McConnell Arena in Montreal on Friday night.
The Wolves played short-handed for six minutes in the first period, but some timely saves by starting netminder Nic Renyard kept Lakehead in the game early on.
Jordan Fournier got McGill on the board with 2:21 remaining in the opening period when he finished off a give-and-go from the slot.
Lakehead tied the game 3:28 into the second when Caleb Boman fired a laser through the wickets of McGill goalie Louis-Philip Guindon off a nice set-up by Jordan King.
That turned out to be the high point of the game for the Thunderwolves, as the Redmen exploded for five straight goals in the middle stanza.
Nicolas Poulin scored from the side of net after his shot from along the goal line took a strange bounce off Renyard and into the cage at 4:24.
Christoph Lalonde stormed down the right wing and cut toward the middle to beat Renyard with a forehand deke at 7:27, and then after a Lakehead turnover a minute later, Jasmin Boutet went top shelf from the slot to increase McGill’s lead to 4-1.
Lalonde added another from a sharp angle at 12:41, and a slap shot by Nikolas Brouillard at 17:23 gave McGill a 6-1 lead after 40 minutes.
Devin Green replaced Renyard in the Wolves’ goal to start the third and faced the same type of pressure that Renyard did during the first two periods.
Jerome Verrier took a pass from behind the Lakehead net and beat Green high on the glove side at 6:14, and Dominic Talbot-Tassi converted from close range when he slid a backhander underneath Green’s pad at 13:47 to round out the scoring.
Total shots on goal in the game were 49-42 for the Redmen, but McGill’s scoring chances were much better than Lakehead’s as the Wolves’ goalies seemed to be left to fend for themselves at times during the contest.
For the night, Lakehead went 0-for-1 on the power play while McGill was 1-for-7.
By: John Payetta
Manager of Operations and Communications
Lakehead University Thunderwolves Hockey