The Lakehead Thunderwolves have earned their way into the Cavendish University Cup.
Scott Dobben’s penalty shot goal with eight seconds left in the second proved to be the game winner, as the Wolves disposed of the Western Mustangs 5-2 to win the OUA West Division title, setting up a one-game Queen’s Cup final next Saturday at Fort William Gardens against East Division champion McGill. The Redmen have also qualified for nationals.
It marks the first time the Wolves have played for the OUA championship since 2006, when they beat McGill.
It didn’t look like Lakehead would be celebrating anything Saturday night, at least in the early stages of Game 2 of their best-of-three West Division final.
The Wolves trailed 2-0 early. Mike Sharp scored shorthanded at the midway point of the first and Keaton Turkiewicz doubled the lead at 16:28.
Lakehead, stymied by Western netminder Keyvan Hunt, who stopped 11 shots in the first, was finally beaten at 11:13 of the second, when Ryan McDonald scored his third of the postseason.
Dan Speer tied it up on the power play with 1:16 to go in the middle stanza, and then with time winding down, Dobben was hauled down on a shorthanded breakaway, leading to the penalty shot.
Shandor Alphonso scored an insurance marker three minutes into the third, and fellow graduating star Mark Soares put the game away at 16:31.
The Mustangs do get a second chance to advance to nationals.
Because the Wolves are hosting the Cavendish Cup, they already had an automatic berth in the tournament, slated to begin on March 25. The Mustangs will play a one-game, winner-take-all game against the host University of Quebec at Trois Rivieres next Saturday. The winner gets the third OUA spot at nationals.
Also on Saturday night, the Alberta Golden Bears clinched a spot at nationals, downing Calgary 3-1 to sweep their best-of-three Canada West semifinal. By reaching the final Alberta is guaranteed one of the two Canada West spots. In the other semifinal, Manitoba evened its series with Sasktachewan, doubling the Huskies 4-2.