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Wolves eliminated

It wasn’t Alex Dupuis’ night. Unfortunately for the Lakehead Thunderwolves, their goaltender picked a pretty bad time to start slumping.
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Lakehead's Luke Judson, seen battling Waterloo's Joe Underwood (left), scored twice, but it wasn't enough Friday night as the Thunderwolves fell 3-2 and were eliminated from the OUA playoffs. (Leith Dunick, tbnewswatch.com)

It wasn’t Alex Dupuis’ night.

Unfortunately for the Lakehead Thunderwolves, their goaltender picked a pretty bad time to start slumping.

Dupuis surrendered three goals on eight shots Friday night before being mercifully lifted in favour of Jeff Bosch, and while the Wolves fought back valiantly with a pair of Luke Judson goals, it wasn’t enough to save their season.

The Waterloo Warriors, who two years ago became the first team to knock the Thunderwolves out of the opening round of the playoffs, completed the task again, their 3-2 win securing a best-of-three series sweep.

Dupuis, who allowed six goals in two periods of play in Wednesday’s 7-2 series-opening loss, was not his sharpest when his teammates needed him most.

He was fooled on a floater from the point off the stick of Joe Underwood at 9:35 of the first, then with his team down a man, misplayed a shot off his foot from Waterloo’s Andy Smith, the first of two goals the Warriors forward put past Dupuis in the first.

Judson, who scored pounded home a rebound 36 seconds into the second then pounced on another off a Mike Hammond wraparound early in the third, said no one could say they didn’t try, despite the slow start.

“We played hard down the stretch, but when it comes down to it, we gave up three goals in the first and you can’t expect to come back in the playoffs," Judson said.

The Wolves, as seems to be the case the past few post-seasons, were stymied by stellar netminding. Keaton Hartigan, beaten 9-3 on Gardens ice just two weeks prior, made a stunning 44 saves. Judson said it came down to a simple equation, one that dates back to hockey’s beginnings.

“The shots they put on net went in and the shots we put on net didn’t,” he said. “I guess that’s indicative of the shots on net. That’s not a slam on our goalies. They played their hearts out too. Sometimes they go in, sometimes they don’t.”

Captain Adam Sergerie, who played his final game in a Thunderwolves uniform, said it was a disappointing way to go out.

"It's still emotional," he said, choking back tears.

"We probably deserved better tonight. But obviously for the last few years we've come out where we think we deserved better, but at the end of the day we didn't win the hockey game we needed to. Five years goes by fast."

Interim coach Mike Busniuk, who has informed team officials he wants the job full time in 2013-14, said it would have been easy for his troops, down 3-0 with four minutes to go in the first, to quit or start playing undisciplined hockey.

"But they didn't. They stuck to the plan. The only problem was the plan didn't pan out to score the last goal. Between the second and third period I said what we want to do is get a goal early and a goal late and beat them in overtime. But the goal late didn't come."

Not for lack of trying.

Ryan Magill was stopped by Hartigan on the doorstep five minutes into the third, indicative of what lie ahead.

A minute later Sergerie, who finished with a pair of assists, was stopped on a nifty spinarama that almost worked. They even caught a break in the final minute, with Bosch on the bench, when Justin Larson, the CIS's leading scorer, rang the puck off the post. Jarred Parent made up for it 26 seconds later, icing it with an empty netter.

The Wolves spent most of the third period buried in the Waterloo zone. The Warriors only managed nine shots over the final 40 minutes, making an easy night for Bosch. But Hartigan, whose OUA career wraps up when Waterloo bows out, was sensational.

His coach, vetaran Brian Bourque, knows his team probably got away with one. He'll take it.

"Right now I feel lucky. Obviously good, but we held on from about halfway through the first tonight. So I feel fortunate that we were able to hold on for the win," Bourque said. 

"I think we got a couple that kind of snuck by (Dupuis) and then we just held on from there. They came hard and Keaton played fantastic in nets and that's a big reason why we won tonight."

The Wolves were playing without suspended forward Matt Caria, their leading scorer, after a league-mandated suspension for a check to the head of Waterloo forward Brett Mackie on Wednesday. Offensive defenceman Mike Quesnele was sidelined with a lower-body injury.

Waterloo will await its second-round opponent. Elsewhere Windsor completed a first-round sweep of York with a 4-2 win. Laurier and Western will look to do the same on Saturday against Guelph and UOIT respectively.

FIRST PERIOD
Scoring
: 1. Waterloo, Underwood (Sartoretto, Sonenburgh) 9:35. 2. Waterloo, Smith 2 (Behenna, Underwood) 10:54 pp. 3. Waterloo, Smith 3 (Larson, Bhenna) 16:08. Penalties: Wilkins LAK (elbowing) 10:09, Molle WAT (interference) 13:20, Judson LAK (boarding) 16:31.

SECOND PERIOD
Scoring
: 1. Lakehead, Judson (Hammond, Sergerie) 0:36. Penalties: Judson LAK (high sticking) 2:05, Behenna WAT (cross checking) 12:02.

Third PERIOD
Scoring
: 5. Lakehead, Judson (Hammond, Sergerie) 3:51. 6. Wareloo, Parent 1 (Underwood, Hartigan). Penalties: Molle WAT (cross checking), Gamache LAK (cross checking) 15:09.

GAME DATA SOG – Waterloo 12-5-4-21, Lakehead 15-16-15-46; Power plays (goals-chances) – Waterloo (1-3), Lakehead (0-2); Goaltenders – Waterloo: Keaton Hartigan, Lakehead: Alex Dupuis (eight shots, five saves), Jeff Bosch (16:52 first); A: 2,651.
 



Leith Dunick

About the Author: Leith Dunick

A proud Nova Scotian who has called Thunder Bay home since 2002, Leith is Dougall Media's director of news, but still likes to tell your stories too. Wants his Expos back and to see Neil Young at least one more time. Twitter: @LeithDunick
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