THUNDER BAY – The Lakehead Thunderwolves left their largest crowd of the season with plenty of happy thoughts to get them through the next three months.
Ben Badalamenti scored a hat trick and Tyler Ho picked up a goal and three assists as the Thunderwolves fended off a hard-charging Toronto Varsity Blues team at Fort William Gardens on Saturday night's teddy bear toss game, clinging to a 6-4 triumph to snap a two-game losing streak.
Jordan King and Dylan Massie, into the empty net with 65 seconds remaining in regulation, also scored for Lakehead (3-5-0).
The Thunderwolves built a 3-0 lead after one, only to have Toronto roar back to tie things up, Quinn Hanna, David Thomson and Cole Purboo scoring in a 4:08 span in the second.
Unfazed, the Wolves retook the lead late in the second, Badalementi completing his hat trick at the 15:54 mark. Ho added his fourth of the year with 14 ticks left on the clock in the middle stanza.
Toronto's Owen Robinson made things interesting with a power play goal just shy of the midway point of the third to make it 5-4, but Massie ended the comeback bid with his first in a Lakehead uniform as time ran down.
Brock Aiken allowed four goals on 43 shots against for the win, while Jett Alexander took the loss, good on 36 of 41 shots fired his way.
The T-Wolves don't return to action until Jan. 6 against Ryerson, the first of 10 straight the team will play on the road to start the new year, thanks in part to the Scotties Tournament of Hearts, which begins in late January at Fort William Gardens.
