THUNDER BAY – The Lakehead Thunderwolves have clinched a first-round bye – and their first division title since 2008 is still in play.
Griffen Fox and Keighan Gerrie scored a pair of goals apiece on Thursday night to lead the No. 10 Thunderwolves to a 6-2 win over the No. 8 Windsor Lancers in front of 2,771 fans at Fort William Gardens in their OUA regular-season finale, guaranteeing the Thunderwolves will finish no worse than second in the OUA West Division.
LU could claim top spot and the No. 1 seed throughout the divisional playoffs should Windsor lose in regulation on Saturday on the road against the Western Mustangs.
It’s right where the Thunderwolves want to be, said Fox, who finished the season with 10 goals and 27 points, the latter tops on his team.
“The bye was a goal of ours since coming back from Christmas break, so obviously we’re super excited to get the bye,” said Fox, who finished off spectacular passes from linemate Spencer Blackwell on both his tallies, the first opening up a 3-1 lead six minutes into the second, the second coming 24 seconds after Windsor’s Sean Olson cut the LU lead to one in the first minute of the final frame, the puck dribbling past Thunderwolves goaltender Max Wright.
“We’ll be scoreboard watching on Saturday, trying to get first place.”
Gerrie, the high-flying freshman who finished the season with six goals in his final four games, and leads the team with 16 on the season.
“I’m just getting hot at the right time. The linemates are clicking. We’re playing really well together. A lot of (the goals) have been nice tap-ins, back-door,” said Gerrie, describing his opening goal to a tee, the cross-crease pass a perfect feed from defenceman Colin Van Den Hurk.
“We knew it was a huge game for us. We were preparing all week for it. We wanted that extra rest and the week off for the bye week. It’ll just give us that more time to dial in the stuff we need to work on and then come in fresh for the second round of the playoffs.”
Trailing 1-0, the Lancers (18-5-3) finally got on the board with eight seconds left in their first power play of the night, Keegan McMullen firing a sharp-angled shot to the upper far side of Wright’s net.
The game stayed tied until the 4:12 mark of the second, when Ben Badalamenti banged home a pass from Tyler Ho. Less than two minutes later Fox pounced on a rebound after Blackwell picked up the puck and raced down the right side, firing a bullet at Windsor goalie Nathan Torchi.
The Lancers netminder made the initial stop, but didn’t have a chance on Fox’s second-chance opportunity.
After trading goals early in the third, Van Den Hurk and Gerrie fired pucks the length of the ice into the empty net.
“It’s a good feeling, obviously, knowing that’s what we’re playing for today against a good team. It thought the game was a great game by our guys, a team effort,” said LU coach Andrew Wilkins.
The Thunderwolves out-shot Windsor 39 to 34.
Lakehead (18-6-3) is making its first playoff appearance since 2020, losing to Ryerson in the first round. Regardles of where they finish, they’ll start on the road in their best-of-three second-round series, with Game 2 tentatively scheduled for Feb. 24 and Game 3, if necessary, going on Feb. 25, both at the Gardens.
FIRST PERIOD
Scoring. 1. Lakehead, Gerrie 14 (Van Den Hurk, Pouliot) 4:29. 2. Windsor, McMullen 4 (Shaw, Aresenau) 15:55 pp Penalties: Van Unen LAK (hooking) 13:03, Spence WSR (slashing) 16:25, Dachyshyn WSR (roughing) 19:23.
SECOND PERIOD
Scoring: 3. Lakehead, Badalamenti (Ho) 4:12. 4. Lakehead, G. Fox, (Blackwell) 6:03. Penalties: Stefano WSR (slashing) 15:03, Stefano WSR (roughing), Dempster LAK (cross checking, roughing, served by Ho) 18:18.
THIRD PERIOD
Scoring: 5. Windsor, Olson (unassisted) 0:50. 6. Lakehead, G. Fox (Blackwell) 1:14. 7. Lakehead, Van Den Hurk (unassisted) 17:47 en. 8. Lakehead, Gerrie 15 (unassisted) 18:30 en. Penalties: N. Massie LAK (holding) 2:28.
GAME DATA – SOG – Windsor 12-13-9-34, Lakehead 15-14-10-39; Power plays (goals-chances) – Windsor (1-2), Lakehead (0-3); Goaltenders – Windsor: Nathan Torchia, Lakehead: Max Wright; A: 2,771.
