THUNDER BAY -- The Brock Badgers made up for lost time on Friday night.
Having scored just four goals combined in their previous four outings, the Badgers fired four goals – on just 13 shots nonetheless – past Devin Green in the first period alone and went on to down the host Lakehead Thunderwolves 5-2 in front of one of the smallest Fort William Gardens crowds in team history.
Defensively, the Wolves would all but shut the Badgers down after the initial 20 minutes, but were unable to mount an offensive attack of their own and opened the second half of the OUA men’s hockey season with a crucial loss to a division rival.
“We bent a bit, but we didn’t break,” said Brock coach and Thunder Bay native Murray Nystrom, who picked up his 200th career conference win. “And I thought one of the key parts of that first period when we gave up the lead, we didn’t roll over, we came back. We didn’t self-destruct, we kind of just dialled it in and got back to business.
“There were some timely goals for us, which played a big part in gathering some momentum and carrying it forward the rest of the game."
Adam Lloyd scored twice to lead the Badgers to victory, collecting his ninth and 10th of the campaign in the decisive first.
Brock goaltender Clint Windsor stole the show for the Badgers (9-8-1), stopping 42 of 44 shots directed his way by the Thunderwolves (8-7-1).
“That’s a tough task, because there is some quality, quality players there,” Nystrom said.
“Clint Windsor obviously played a big part of that. But I was really proud of our penalty killing in the last half of the game. They really had to play to perfection and they did that. That’s playoff-style hockey.”
It was Thunderwolves who struck first, Billy Jenkins popping the puck past Windsor at the 7:48 mark of the first, his first goal of the season.
But Braden Pears got the Badgers back on even terms at the midway point of the period, Lloyd giving them the lead just 23 seconds later. That advantage was also short-lived, Sam Schutt tying things up just 23 seconds after that. They'd find the back of the net no more, however
Lloyd put the Badgers in front for good at 13:30, Ryan Purvis doubling the lead with 29 seconds to go in the first.
It was an opening period to forget for LU, who have lost five of seven homes games in 2016-17.
“It’s tough, when you outshoot a team 44 to 24, or whatever they got. The pucks just weren’t bouncing our way,” said Schutt, who finished with a goal and an assist.
Most of those shots, however, didn’t really test Windsor all that much.
“It was a lot of shots from the outside,” Schutt said. “We just weren’t getting (to the net) and that cost us the game.”
Lakehead, who went 0-for-5 with the man advantage, were unable to capitalize on four straight power plays down the stretch in the third.
Coach Bill McDonald has a theory why.
“In the neutral zone, I just don’t like some of the plays we make. I think we cough it up a little bit and it’s mainly on the forwards, it’s not on the D,” McDonald said.
Brock’s Brody Silk added an empty-netter with 1:15 to play.
Claw marks: Two of the three teams below LU in the OUA West standings lost on Friday night. Western dropped a 4-2 decision to York, while Laurentian blanked Waterloo 2-0 ... The two teams tangle again on Saturday night.
FIRST PERIOD
Scoring: 1. Lakehead, Jenkins 1 (Schutt, Valiquette) 7:48 2. Brock, Pears 3 (Maniccia, Pacheco) 10:00. 3. Brock, Lloyd 9 (Rossiter, Pears) 10:32. 4. Lakehead, Schutt 2 (Sefton, Ringuette) 10:46. 5. Brock, Lloyd 10 (Maniccia, Morden) 13:30. 6. Brock, Purvis 2 (Jambrosich, Lemmon) 19:31. Penalties: Ainsworth LAK (spearing double minor) 15:08.
SECOND PERIOD
Scoring: None. Penalties: Mignault LAK (slashing) 3:31, Silk BRO (slashing) 10:47.
THIRD PERIOD
Scoring: 7. Brock, Silk (Radjenovic) 18:15 en. Penalties: Springer LAK (roughing) 3:16, Alexander LAK (tripping) 4:53, Pacheco BRK (interference) 8:58, Timpano BRK (elbowing) 13:05, Bench Minor BRK (too many men) 16:24, Pears BRK (holding) 19:17.
GAME DATA – SOG – Brock 13-8-2-23, Lakehead 14-16-14-44; Power plays (goals-chances) – Brock (0-4), Lakehead (0-5); Goaltenders – Brock: Clint Windsor, Lakehead: Devin Green; A: 1,900.
