THUNDER BAY – The Lakehead Thunderwolves men’s hockey team will ring in the new year with a pair of non-conference wins under their belt.
Dylan Massie scored twice and Josh Van Unen had a goal and an assist, adding to his three-goal effort the night before, leading LU to a 6-4 win over the University of Manitoba Bisons in front of 2,655 fans at Fort William Gardens.
Massie, second on the team with five regular-season goals, said the goal coming into the weekend was a pair of victories, and while the games weren’t always pretty, they got the job done.
“I think having nine days off over the break, it doesn’t seem like much, but it can be a lot, especially when you’re eating all that food. It was just good to get our legs under us again and get ready for next weekend,” Massie said.
After blanking the Bisons 6-0 on Friday night, it appeared the T-Wolves were well on their way to another shellacking in Saturday’s rematch.
They jumped in front 3-1 after 20 minutes, but Manitoba had other ideas, at least coming out of the first-period intermission.
Cody Behun and Tony Apetagon scored goals 76 seconds apart in the first four minutes of the second period to tie it up, just missing a third goal as the puck bounced dangerously at the feet of Brock Aiken, making a rare start between the pipes for LU.
The T-Wolves didn’t bat an eye.
Tyler Ho responded with a power play goal of his own, left alone to pounce on a Josh Van Unen rebound, firing it home from the right circle to give Lakehead back the lead for good. Nicholas DeGrazia needed just 38 seconds to restore the Thunderwolves two-goal lead, taking a pass from Colin Van Den Hurk and beating Bisons goaltender Kolby Thornton, who took over to start the second after Ross Hawryluk gave up three goals on 13 shots.
One of those goals belonged to defenceman Brendon Borbely, his first in an LU uniform. Van Unene opened the scoring two minutes into the contest and Massie made it 3-1 with 1:02 to go in the first, wiping out Owen Warehem’s power-play goal that cut the LU lead to 2-1 at the 11:41 mark.
Massie and Manitoba’s Hayden Ostir traded third-period goals, the Bisons unable to gain ground over the final four minutes of the game with Thornton on the bench for an extra attacker.
Lakehead coach Andrew Wilkins said the non-conference wins are a good jumping off point as the Thunderwolves get set to welcome Queen’s and RMC to the Gardens next weekend.
“Getting the wins are very important to our group,” Wilkins said. “I thought we responded better tonight in the third period. I didn’t love our second or parts of our first, but it happens in hockey where you’re dealing with momentum swings.
Aiken made 25 saves to earn the win, the loss going to Thornton, who stopped 18 of 21 shots sent his way.
FIRST PERIOD
Scoring: 1. Lakehead, Van Unen (Turpin) 1:56. 2. Lakehead, Borbely (Blackwell) 9:20. 3. Manitoba, Wareham (Toth) 11:41 pp. 4. Lakehead, D. Massie (N. Massie, Smith) 18:58. Penalties: McNeill LAK (tripping) 9:51.
SECOND PERIOD
Scoring: 5. Manitoba, Behun (Malchuk) 2:45 pp. 6. Manitoba, Apetagon (Paulhus) 4:01. 7. Lakehead, Ho (Van Unen, Campbell) 6:38 pp. 8. Lakehead, DeGrazia (Van Den Hurk) 7:16. Penalties: McNeill LAK (high sticking) 2:40, Casey MAN (tripping) 6:10, Smith LAK (slashing) 9:30, Van Den Hurk LAK (cross checking) 14:07.
THIRD PERIOD
Scoring: 9. Lakehead, D. Massie (Badalamenti, Smith) 5:35. 10, Manitoba, Ostir (Gottfried) 9:43. Penalties: Fry MAN (roughing) 1:58, Paulhus MAN (tripping) 11:17.
GAME DATA – SOG – Manitoba 7-15-7-29, Lakehead 13-6-15-34; Power plays (goals-chances) – Manitoba (2-4), Lakehead (1-3); Goaltenders – Manitoba: Ross Hawryluk (13 shots, 10 saves), Kolby Thornton (0:00 second), Lakehead: Brock Aiken; A: 2,655.
