The University of Windsor Lancers men's hockey team dropped a 7–3 decision to the Lakehead Thunderwolves on Friday (Feb. 13) night at the Fort William Gardens in Thunder Bay, Ont. Windsor battled through a tightly contested opening forty minutes, but a three-goal third period from Lakehead proved to be the difference.
STATS
Windsor outshot Lakehead 29–27 in the contest, including an 11-shot third period push. Max Donoso made 20 saves on 26 shots in 56:28 of action, with Lakehead adding an empty-netter late in regulation. Carson Cherepak earned the win for the Thunderwolves, stopping 26 of 29 shots. Keegan McMullen, Matt McNamara, and Colton Smith scored for the Lancers, while Aaron Shaw, Logan Linklater, and Owen Jones each recorded assists.
Windsor finished the night with 20 penalty minutes, while Lakehead totaled 14 minutes on seven penalties. The Thunderwolves capitalized once on the power play, with Dalton MacGillivray converting in the second period.
GAME FLOW
Lakehead opened the scoring in the first period, but Windsor responded quickly after as Matt McNamara struck with a shot from in close. After the Thunderwolves regained the lead midway through the frame, Keegan McMullen evened the score at 2–2 late in the period, finishing a setup from Aaron Shaw to send the teams into the intermission tied.
The Thunderwolves regained momentum early in the second period to take a 3–2 lead. Windsor answered midway through the frame when Colton Smith buried a feed from Logan Linklater and Owen Jones to knot the game at three. However, Lakehead restored the home side's advantage on the power play late in the period, giving the Thunderwolves a 4–3 lead after forty minutes.
In the third, Lakehead pulled away with a pair of goals to extend the lead before sealing the 7–3 final with an empty-net marker. Despite generating chances and holding a slight edge in shots, Windsor was unable to solve Cherepak in the final frame.
UP NEXT
The Lancers will look to regroup as they close out regular season play with the second half their back-to-back against Lakehead on Saturday, February 14 at 7 p.m. The game can be streamed live on oua.tv.
