Back on track

The Brock Badgers are pesky, just not pesky enough to tame the Lakehead Thunderwolves.

At least they weren’t on this night, anyway.

Adam Sergerie and Ryan Magill scored two minutes apart in the opening minutes of the third period, putting a one-goal game out of reach, as the Wolves snapped a two-game losing streak with a 5-2 win at Fort William Gardens Friday night.

Sergerie, who netted his ninth of the season two minutes into the third to extend his career high, said it’s easy to take a team like the Badgers for granted, and just as easy to get burned by doing so.

The Wolves found that out the hard way in the early going and trailed 1-0, on a Kevin Christmas marker, for an entire period of play before Brock McPherson knotted the score on a pass from Sergerie at 4:37 of the second.

“Brock plays a disciplined system. They sit back, they wait for you to make mistakes. I was fortunate to catch them on a line break, a change and I put it in. But you’ve got to stay very disciplined and wait for your chances against Brock. We were very fortunate to get a few in the third,” Sergerie said.

“We came out to a slow start and we battled through it. The end result is all that matters right now.”

It was par for the course for the Badgers this year, said Thunder Bay native Murray Nystrom, back at the helm of a team that’s struggled to stay above .500 in 2010-11.

“It’s our team this year. We’re a little immature in terms of our play at times. We have a pretty young roster. One of the things we tried to emphasize today to the guys is that Lakehead is a good enough team that they’re going to generate turnovers and get possession of the puck just through their ability and good team play,” he said.

“We needed to really limit the number of times we handed the puck over to them. I thought we did it too often and it came back to bite us big time in that short span.”

Spreading the offense around was a good test for the Wolves, who will be without the slumping Matt Caria (pointless in three, goalless in four) and defenceman Jordan Smith for at least the next five games. The two leave Saturday to join Team Canada and a road trip of a lifetime to the World University Games in Erzurum, Turkey, starting Jan. 27.

Newcomer Jadran Beljo, who earned his first point in a Thunderwolves uniform on Sergerie’s goal, looked ready to fill some of Caria’s role, despite going 0-for-2 on breakaways against Brock starter Kurt Jory.

Sergerie’s more than willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.

“He’s had a year off of hockey, so he’s just getting back into it. You can see he’s going to be a great player. He had two breakaways in the second period. Unfortunately he didn’t finish, but you know they’re going to come. We expect a lot out of him,” Sergerie said.

“The more games he gets, the more comfortable he’s going to get and we’re going to see more results out of him.”

One guy might not be enough to replace Caria, who tops the team with 33 points in 21 games.

“It’s going to have to be done by committee. We’re going to have to work hard,” the third-year Sergerie said.

For Smith, finding that winning feeling again was the key to the night.

“You never want to lose three in a row,” he said. “We just paid attention to detail a little more and worked a little harder. We played well down in Western, just not well enough to win.”

LU coach Joel Scherban said there were still too many odd-man rushes against on Friday night, and early turnovers could have cost them, but didn’t.

He’d like to see that cleaned up a little more in Saturday’s rematch.

“But it was definitely a step in the right direction tonight,” he said.

Ryan McDonald gave Lakehead its first lead of the night at 16:32 of the second, undressing Jory, who sat out all of last season and most of 2008-09 after nearly losing his life when his jugular vein was severed in a game against Windsor on Nov. 29, 2008.

Sergerie and Magill scored rapid fire goals to make it 4-1. Jordan Gignac cut the LU lead to two on the power play with 7:21 to play in regulation, but Brennan Menard ended it with an empty netter in the final minute of play, his sixth of the year.

Claw marks: Scherban said he’s had some discussions with Sarnia Sting forward Kale Karbashian, but said he expects the sixth-leading scorer in the OHL to seek a professional contract for 2011-12 and highly doubts he’ll be seen anywhere in the CIS next season ... Kris Hogg (knee) expects to attempt to skate with the Wolves next week, but won’t know if he can go next weekend until later in the week ... Without Hogg, and barring any further injuries, the Wolves will dress 19 players against Guelph on the road next weekend, one short of the league maximum.

First period
Scoring: 1. Brock, Christmas 1 (Geldart, Pell) 3:59. Penalties: Tolles BRO (holding) 4:35, Miller BRO (holding) 19:47.

Second period
Scoring: 2. Lakehead, McPherson 11 (Sergerie, Maunu) 4:37. 3. Lakehead, Mcdonald 13 (Quesnele) 16:32 pp. Penalties: Allen BRO (hooking) 6:42, Welsh LAK (high sticking) 13:53, Smeltzer (high sticking) 15:58, Beljo LAK (tripping) 17:17.

Third period
Scoring: 4. Lakehead, Sergerie 9 (Beljo) 1:53. 5, Lakehead, Magill 2 (Anilane) 3:48. 6. Brock, Gignac 8 (Smeltzer, Brochu) 12:39 pp . 7. Lakehead, Menard 6 (Wilkins, Dupuis) 19:16 en. Penalties: Beljo LAK (slashing) 12:13.

Game Data – SOG – Brock 3-8-5-16, Lakehead 9-9-7-25; Power plays (goals-chances) – Brock (1-3) Lakehead (1-4); Goaltenders – Brock: Kurt Jory (20 shots, 16 saves), Jordan Bent (16:12, third), Lakehead: Alex Dupuis; A: 2,534.