TORONTO – The Lakehead Thunderwolves might have salvaged their season on Saturday night.
The OUA men’s hockey team edged the host Ryerson Rams 4-3 and vaulted in front of the York Lions by a single point in the race for the final playoff spot in the OUA West and Far West divisions.
Earlier in the day the Lions played into Lakehead’s plans, falling 4-0 to the Toronto Varsity Blues.
Greg Smith, Joe Mack, Kevin Stiles and Dylan Massie scored for Lakehead, who took a 4-2 lead into the third and held on for the win, Brock Aiken making 36 stops in his return to the Thunderwolves net.
Lakehead took the lead on three separate occasions in the must-win contest.
Smith opened the scoring with 49 seconds left in the first.
Mack gave them a 2-1 lead 3:14 into the second and Stiles made it 3-2 at the 11:11 mark of the middle frame.
Aaron Hyman, Kyle Bollers and David Martin scored for Ryerson, who were trying to wrap up the top seed in the OUA West.
Garrett Forrest took the loss for the Rams, making 19 saves on 23 shots.
Lakehead (6-9-1) needs the Lions to pick up no more than a point in their final two outings next weekend against the Rams (10-3-0).
If the two teams are tied, Lakehead would win the tiebreaker because they hold a 6-5 edge in regulation and overtime wins over York.
