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Thunderwolves blow late lead for second straight night, fall in OT to Windsor

Late goals were the death of the Lakehead Thunderwolves again.
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David Quesnele celebrates a second-period goal. (Leith Dunick, tbnewswatch.com)

Late goals were the death of the Lakehead Thunderwolves again.

The Windsor Lancers, in a near carbon-copy performance of their Friday night win, scored with 1:18 to play to tie the score, then Spencer Pommels netted the game winner in overtime, securing a 7-6 win and a weekend sweep at Fort William Gardens on Saturday night.

A night earlier the No. 7-ranked Lancers scored with 73 seconds to play to tie it, then Pommels potted the winner with six seconds to go in regulation.

"I just think we have to bear down a little bit defensively," said forward Keith Grondin, who scored once a chipped in a pair of helpers in the loss.

"We have to start taking more ownership and take it from there. We're scoring goals and you shouldn't be losing when you're scoring that many goals."

Grondin isn't sure where to place the blame. The Thunderwolves took three costly penalties in the final nine minutes of regulation and twice the Lancers capitalized, including Ryan Green's equalizer with 78 seconds to go.

But it was more than that.

"The penalties didn't help, but also, you look at their team too. They were coming with pressure. I think they kind of put us on our heels. And they've got some skilled players as well who can puck in the net and they just capitalized on their opportunities," Grondin said.

Forward Jake Wright scored twice and called the loss disappointing.

"I think we outplayed them most of the game. But the last two games we sat back in the third and they took it to us," said Wright, a Sault Ste. Marie native who has three goals in seven appearances.

"It was a tough one. We just fell apart."

Windsor coach Kevin Hamlin agreed it wasn't the way he wanted to win, but he'll take the two points.

"It was a real character-building weekend for us," said the seventh-year coach. "We're still trying to learn our identity and what this team is made of. To battle through some adversity yesterday and win was a great sign and then again today to do the same thing, it was a great win for us."

The two sides trade goals back and forth in the first, the Lancers escaping with a 3-2 lead when Matt Beaudoin one-timed a Kenny Bradford pass past Lakehead goalie Justin McDonald. For Bradford it was the third of five assists on the night.

Wright opened the scoring on the power play at the 6:43 mark of the first, one of four goals the Wolves would score in six man-advantage situations.

Drew Palmer, who scored a pair of Friday, tied it less than four minutes later and then 36 seconds after that Isak Quakenbush gave the Lancer their first of four leads they'd hold on the night. Mike Hammond tied it at 11:41, but Windsor was back on top two minutes later.

Wright's second of the night stood up as the only goal of the middle frame until Dylan Denomme beat McDonald at 18:06, Windsor looking destined to carry a 4-3 lead into the third. But Kelin Ainsworth had a different game plan, beating a shaky Parker Van Buskirk, who was chased four minutes into the third after Grondin and Nathan Bruyere, who fired a bullet from inside the point, scored to give LU a 6-4 lead.

Cue the Windsor comeback, with Taylor Speed between the pipes.

Palmer closed the gap to one, scoring from his knees at 7:24. Green's equalizer also came on the power play, a blast from just beyond the top of the circle that McDonald had no chance to see, let alone stop.

"It's just the same as last night," said Lakehead coach Bill McDonald. "We can't hang our hat on being close and not winning games. Let's be honest. It's not that we didn't try. We had enthusiasm, we had energy. Our special teams were pretty good. But we were playing against a good team and at inopportune times we seem to (take) a penalty or (make) a boneheaded play and it ends up in our net."

The loss dropped the Wolves record to 3-4-1, while Windsor remained perfect with a 7-0-0 mark.

First period
Scoring
: 1. Lakehead, Wright (M. Quesnele, D. Quesnele) 6:43 pp. 2. Windsor, Palmer (Bradford, Pommels) 10:14. 3. Windsor, Quakenbush (Seguin, Bradford) 10:50. 4. Lakehead, Hammond (Grondin, Gilbert) 11:41. 5. Windsor, Beaudoin (Bradford) 13:44. Penalties: Blondeen WSR (high sticking) 5:07, Grondin LAK (boarding) 8:12,

Second period
Scoring
: 6. Lakehead, Wright (M. Quesnele, Ainsworth) 7:48 pp. 7. Windsor, Denomme (Bradford) 18:06. 8. Lakehead, Ainsworth (M. Quesnele) 19:43 pp. Penalties: Posa WSR (holding) 6:19, Blondeel WSR (interference) 12:47, Luciani WSR (slashing) 18:45.

Third period
Scoring
: 9. Lakehead, Grondin (Magill) 1:19. 10. Lakehead, Bruyere (Hammond, Grondin) 3:55 pp. 11. Windsor, Palmer (Donomme) 7:24 pp. Windsor, Green (Pommels, Bradford) 18:42 pp. Penalties: Bezzo WSR (slashing) 2:57, Wright LAK (tripping) 6:49, D. Quesnele LAK (slashing) 11:14, Magill LAK (tripping) 16:56, Palmer WSR (roughing) 17:37, Bruyere LAK (high sticking) 18:01.

Overtime
Scoring
: 13. Windsor, Pommels (unassisted) 3:52. Penalties: None

GAME DATASOG – Windsor 12-8-14-0-0, Lakehead 10-16-19-0-0; Power plays (goals-chances) – Windsor (1-4), Lakehead (4-5); Goaltenders – Windsor: Parker Van Buskirk (31 shots, 25 saves), Taylor Speed (3:55, third) Lakehead: Justin McDonald; A: 2,605.



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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