All Kelly Nobes wanted was a fair shake for his Laurier Golden Hawks hockey team.
One gross misconduct and a 10-4 loss to the Lakehead Thunderwolves later and the veteran coach is convinced he got the short end of the refereeing stick on Friday night.
Nobes, who could face a league-mandated suspension after stalking referee Andrew Brewer around the Fort William Gardens ice, seeking to give him a piece of his mind following the lopsided contest, said he’s sick and tired of getting a raw deal from the officiating in Thunder Bay.
“It’s unfortunate that the official absolutely discredits our league with that type of officiating,” said Nobes, reiterating later he wanted his comments published.
“The thing that I really struggle with is the double standard that he sets. On the ice, Lakehead is allowed to do one thing, Laurier is allowed to do another. And the penalties are called that way.”
Nobes wasn’t debating whether the calls against his team were right, rather that the Thunderwolves committed many of the same offences and skated away scott-free.
That doesn’t happen in southern Ontario, he said, angry that Brewer didn’t speak to him or his players about any of the calls he made, but in turn had no problem discussing other calls with Thunderwolves players and coaches.
At one point in the second period the Hawks were handed seven straight penalties, including three minors on one play midway through the stanza.
“I’m not saying they weren’t penalties. What I’m saying is there are ample calls the other way that are there that aren’t being called, and it’s the double standard that frustrates me, and it frustrates other guys in our league when we come up here. It’s embarrassing,” Nobes said.
However, it wasn’t like the Thunderwolves completely escaped Brewer’s whistle or judgement.
Up 4-2 in the first, Adam Sergerie appeared to score Lakehead’s fifth goal, a rocket that snapped back after hitting the inside of the net just beyond the crossbar. As Sergerie and company celebrated, the red light never came on, no whistle blew and Laurier promptly raced down the ice and Ryan Bernardi beat Kyle Moir in the LU net to make it 4-3.
“It was tough, because that’s two games in a row where we’re pretty confident that we scored goals that were disallowed. (Laurier’s) goal was a huge momentum changer. I thought we should have been up 5-2 there. I thought it was a good goal … Instead of a three-goal lead it was a one-goal lead,” said LU coach Joel Scherban, whose squad snapped a two-game losing streak with the win.
Defenceman Mitch Maunu, one of nine Lakehead players to find the twine, said the win shows a different type of Thunderwolves squad than the offensively challenged team of a year ago.
“I think we have a well-balanced attack this year, where maybe in years past we had one line or two lines or a couple of go-to guys who would put the puck in all the time, whereas this year I think everybody can put the puck in the net,” Maunu said.
It took the Wolves less than seven minutes to get going in this one, spotting Laurier a 1-0 lead on Jason Bergeron’s fourth of the season, a power play marker that came after Scott Dobben and Mark Soares failed to connect on a shorthanded two-on-one the other direction.
Less than two minutes later rookie Victor Anilane evened the score, planting himself in front of Laurier starter Jeff MacDougald, taking a pass from Dobben who was circling behind MacDougald, and bashing it home on a second attempt.
Lakehead took the lead at 10:42 when the Alphonso brother struck, Shandor tallying on a pass from his brother, making his first appearance in several weeks following a concussion.
Ryan Bellows brought Laurier back to even ground with just over five minutes to play in the period, but Kalvin Sagert put Lakehead on top for good at 16:55, banging home a loose puck in front of MacDougald, who was caught going the other way.
Mark Soares made it 4-2 before Bernardi’s goal, and the Wolves took a one-goal lead into the second period.
It grew to four after the next 20 minutes of play.
Brock McPherson, Kris Hogg, Maunu and Pierre-Marc Guilbault, with his first of two on the night, responded for Lakehead, the last three on power plays. Arron Alphonso and Guilbault rounded out the scoring in the third.
“We played our system and obviously played hard and put the puck on the net. You saw we had 50 shots. There‘s not much more I can say about it,” said Guilbault, who upped his total to six goals.
The two teams meet again on Saturday night at 7:30 p.m.
Claw marks:
Bryan Wilson,
Mark Thibert and
Brennan Menard were the Wolves on the sidelines for this one … In other OUA hockey action, Carleton beat surprising Nipissing 4-1, Guelph doubled Windsor 2-1, Toronto downed Ottawa 4-1, UQTR edged Queen’s 4-3, Ryerson beat RMC 4-3 in OT and Western knocked off Waterloo.
FIRST PERIODScoring: 1. Laurier, Bergeron 4 (Rizk, Bradley) 4:55 pp. 2. Lakehead, Anilane 5 (Soares, Dobben) 6:35. 3. Lakehead, S. Alphonso 3 (A. Alphonso) 10:42. 4. Laurier, Bellows 2 (Bradley, Borrows) 14:43. 5. Lakehead, Sagert 2 (Hogg, Sergerie) 16:55. 6. Lakehead, Soares 4 (Dobben, Anilane) 17:59. 7. Laurier, Bernardi 1 (Rizk) 18:31.
Penalties: Smith LAK (roughing) 4:00, Sergerie LAK (slashing), Gauthier LAU (unsportsmanlike conduct) 7:42, Smith LAK (interference) 11:32, Bradley LAU (interference) 12:34, Hvarinen LAK (slashing) 12:40.
SECOND PERIODScoring: 8. Lakehead, McPherson 5 (Speer) 7:04. 9. Lakehead, Hogg 4 (Sergerie, Baird) 11:18 pp. 10. Lakehead, Maunu 1 (Hogg) 14:01 pp. 11. Laurier, Bradley 4 (Good, Pettapiece) 15:21. 12. Lakehead, Guilbault 5 (McPherson, Speer) 19:18 pp.
Penalties: Anilane LAK, Gauthier (high sticking) 0:33, Sergerie LAK (cross checking) 1:56, Bradley LAU (high sticking) 7:43, Bernardi LAU (closing hand on puck) 9:07, Rizk LAU (hooking) 10:09, Gauthier LAU (cross checking) 10:09, Bench minor LAU (delay of game) 10:09, Borrows LAU (tripping)13:42, Kennedy LAU (misconduct) 14:01, Magistrale LAU (cross checking) 18:15.
THIRD PERIODScoring: 13. Lakehead, A. Alphonso 1 (Welsh) 12:46. 14. Lakehead, Guilbault 6 (Sergerie, Hogg) 16:12 pp.
Penalties: Zulyniak LAK (Interference) 4:24, Smith LAK (cross checking) 5:12. Hogg LAK (slashing) 9:34, Bradley LAK (slashing) 16:07, Hyvarinen LAK (slashing) Bergeron LAU (slashing) 17:22, Anilane LAK (cross checking) 19:29.
GAME DATA -
SOG - Laurier 16-8-11-35, Lakehead 22-26-10-58;
Power plays (goals-chances): Laurier (1-7), Lakehead (4-9);
Goaltenders - Laurier Jeff MacDougald (21 shots, 17 saves), Ryan Daniels (17:59 first, 27 shots, 23 saves), MacDougald (0:00 third), Lakehead: Kyle Moir;
A: 3,046.