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Del Paggio wins it for Wolves in OT

Including pre-season play, rookie forward nets fourth game-winner of 2017-18 for Lakehead, who knocked off Brock 3-2 on Friday night.
Scott Gall
Lakehead's Scott Gall (left) jumps on a loose puck in front of Brock goaltender Clint Windsor while defenceman Dale Deon tries to break up the play on Friday, Nov. 3, 2017 at Fort William Gardens (Leith Dunick, tbnewswatch.com).

THUNDER BAY – Daniel Del Paggio’s developing a knack for scoring timely goals.

The rookie Lakehead Thunderwolves forward was at it again on Friday night, potting the overtime winner with 6.1 seconds left to play to help his team capture its third straight victory, a 3-2 decision over the Brock Badgers that allowed the home side to climb back to .500 at 3-3-1.

Including the pre-season, the 20-year-old Del Paggio has five goals, four of them game winners, but he downplayed the Mr. Clutch moniker.

“I don’t know. It’s probably a little luck,” said Del Paggio, who also drew a helper on Jonathan Masters’ opening goal 1:21 into the second period.

“I’m not really sure. I know two of them were in overtime. But I think it’s just lucky when I score them in the game. It could probably be overlooked. I don’t think it’s a big issue.”

Coach Bill McDonald certainly wasn’t complaining.

Del Paggio, who lost line-mates Billy Jenkins and Josh Laframboise to long-term injuries, hasn’t skipped a beat playing alongside Cooper Leitch and veteran E.J. Faust.

“He’s really playing well. He got banged up there in Waterloo in the overtime, but you can see his character and you can see his determination. He’s lost his two line-mates, but he’s gained two more. It’s all character about him and when the game gets rough, he gets a little more revved up,” McDonald said.

The winning goal came on a 2-on-1 with Dylan Butler, who fired a quick pass across the ice that Del Paggio pounced on, firing it past Brock goalie Clint Windsor, the Wolves 33rd shot on goal.

After making a turnover in his own end, he made up for it moments later.

“Their team kind of passed it to me and we went back and forth. (Dylan) gave me a great pass and I shot and luckily it went in,” Del Paggio said.

After a scoreless first at Fort William Gardens, the Wolves jumped out to a 2-0 lead early in the second, Jonathan Masters and Trevor Hynnes scoring their first goals of the season 1:48 apart.

For Masters, it was his first in a Thunderwolves uniform.

For Hynnes, it was just his second OUA goal in four seasons with Lakehead.

“It’s nice to contribute on the offence obviously. It felt pretty good,” said Hynnes, a fourth-line grinder who corralled a backhand pass from Austin McDonald and tapped it home.

“It was more his goal than mine,” Hynnes said.

Masters was happy to find the back of the net too.

“It’s nice to get the first one out of the way,” the freshman defender said, the goal coming after he jumped into the rush.

The Badgers Brandon O’Quinn finally solved Lakehad goalie Nic Renyard late in the second, scoring a shorthanded, back-handed breakaway goal to cut the Wolves lead to 2-1. The goal came moments after Renyard turned aside a 2-on-1 opportunity.

LU killed off a 75-second two-man disadvantage in the third, but couldn’t hold the Badgers at bay, Mack Lemmon banging home the equalizer with 2:21 to go in regulation.

“It’s always nice to win. That’s three in a row, but it comes with a lot of hard work. We made some mistakes, but going on the road last weekend – and everybody knows about the injuries we’ve had – everybody just kind of buckled up took it upon themselves,” McDonald said.

“This is what we’ve got, and this is what we’re going to play with. They played pretty well.”

The two teams play again on Saturday night. 

FIRST PERIOD
Scoring
: None. Penalties: Fryer LAK (hooking) 12:50, Whitlock LAK (slashing) 15:58.

SECOND PERIOD
Scoring
: 1. Lakehead, Masters 1 (Del Paggio, Faust) 1:21. 2. Lakehead, Hynnes 1 (McDonald, Fullum) 3:09. 3. Brock, O’Quinn (Nardi) 15:39 sh. Penalties: Del Paggio LAK (hooking) 7:49, Santoro BRK (slashing) 11:39, Pears BRK (holding) 14:20, Fullum LAK (hooking) 17:57.

THIRD PERIOD
Scoring
: 4. Brock, Lemmon (Weber) 17:39. Penalties: Valiquette LAK (hooking) 6:13, Fryer LAK (boarding) 6:59.

OVERTIME
Scoring
: 5. Lakehead, Del Paggio (Butler) 4:53. Penalties: None.

GAME DATASOG – Brock 11-14-11-2-38, Lakehead 8-12-11-2-33; Power plays (goals-chances) – Brock (0-6), Lakehead (0-2); Goaltenders – Brock: Clint Windsor, Lakehead: Nic Renyard; A: 2,486.



Leith Dunick

About the Author: Leith Dunick

A proud Nova Scotian who has called Thunder Bay home since 2002, Leith is Dougall Media's director of news, but still likes to tell your stories too. Wants his Expos back and to see Neil Young at least one more time. Twitter: @LeithDunick
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