Cody Alcock knew the goals would eventually come.
When they did, they came in bunches.
The Oshawa, Ont. native scored four times Friday night, pacing the Lakehead Thunderwolves (4-1-0) to a 5-3 home-ice win over the Laurier Golden Hawks, their second straight OUA triumph.
Alcock, a two-time 20-goal scorer and former captain of the Kingston Frontenacs, had heretofore been held off the score sheet, failing to light the lamp in four regular season and three pre-season contests.
“I just didn’t let it bug me,” said Alcock, admitting it was getting frustrating, especially after missing several close chances on the road last weekend in Guelph.
“When I let things bug me like that, it just gets worse. I kept it simple, like the coaches wanted me to, just got shots on net and it seemed to come to me.”
The 21-year-old was having a hard time remembering the last time he put four goals in the net in a single game.
“I don’t think I’ve done that since I was a little, little kid, so it was certainly a neat experience,” he said. Lakehead coach Bill McDonald agreed.
“Four (goals), against the kind of competition we had here tonight, it’s a feather in Cody’s hat,” McDonald said. “He probably thought he was coming here to be one of the goal-scorer guys. He’s had 20 goals in the OHL and everybody knew that.
“Like I said, he’s just getting accustomed. He was probably squeezing his stick a little too much in the beginning.”
McDonald’s team needed every single one of Alcock’s goals in the one-goal win, a game McDonald deemed a nasty one in the trenches.
It didn’t help that the Wolves found themselves down to four defencemen at one point, Nathan Bruyere in the box serving a misconduct for a check to the head and Chris de la Lande’s night ending early because of a knee injury.
“We were treading water, but we got through it. Again, give the guys credit, it’s a character win.”
Mike Hammond netted the other Lakehead goal, a second-period marker that put the Wolves up 3-1 at the time.
Peter MacIntosh, with a pair, Brent Vandenberg and Luke Hietkamp scored for Laurier (1-1-0), playing just their second game of the campaign.
Alcock’s first of four came just 2:11 after the puck dropped in the first, but Laurier’s Peter McIntosh got it back at 13:11, sliding the puck past LU goalie Justin McDonald, flat on his back in the Thunderwolves crease.
He made it 2-1 with 53 seconds left in the first, then up 3-2, scored 50 seconds into the third, completing a pretty tic-tac-toe play with defenceman Mike Quesnele and line-mate Andrew Wilkins that Laurier goalie Shayne Campbell had no chance to stop.
The Golden Hawks, coached by Thunder Bay native Greg Puhalski, kept the pressure going, twice cutting two-goal deficits in half in the third. McIntosh made it 4-3 on the power play midway through the period, but Alcock answered once again, sweeping around a Golden Hawks defenderto beat Campbell on his far side.
Hietkamp scored with 49 seconds left in regulation, with Campbell on the bench, but the equalizer never came.
Claw marks: Former NHL referee Bryan Lewis was in the press box evaluating officials for the OUA ... McDonald said injured forward Carson Dubchak could be back after Christmas. The team initially thought his knee injury would end his season ... Attendance was 2,609 ... Elsewhere in the OUA, Queen’s beat Nipissing 6-4, UQTR downed Ottawa 4-1, Carleton slipped past McGill 6-4, Ryerson thumped Brock 5-1 and UOIT nipped Laurentian 5-4.
FIRST PERIOD
Scoring: 1. Lakehead, Alcock 1 (Quesnele, Gamache) 2:41. 2. Laurier, Peter MacIntosh 1 (Vanni, Stothers) 13: 11. 3. Lakehead, Alcock 2 (Gamache, Bruyere) 19:56. Penalties: Trichilo LAU (holding) 0:34, Kaarela LAK (boarding) 6:40, Kaarela LAK (high sticking) 15:31, Braid LAU (cross checking) 20:00.
SECOND PERIOD
Scoring: 4. Lakehead, Hammond 5(Carrick) 10:52. 5. Laurier, Vandenberg 1 (Lowry, MacIntosh) 15:07. Penalties: Braid LAU (roughing) 3:43, Gamache (slashing): 5:42, Restoule LAK, Braid LAU (roughing) 14:02, Bruyere LAK (check to head, misconduct) 14:34, M. Quesnele LAK (boarding, roughing), MacCormack (roughing, unsportsmanlike conduct) 15:45.
THIRD period
Scoring: 6. Lakehead, Alcock 3 (M. Quesnele, Wilkins) 0:50. 7. Laurier, MacIntosh 2 (Lowry, Stothers) 10:18 pp. 8. Lakehead, Alcock 4 (Wilkins, Gilbert) 15:07. 9. Laurier, Hietkamp 1 (Braid) 19:11. Penalties: Maw LAK (elbowing) 3:13, Carrick LAK (slashing) 8:18, Fillman LAK (cross checking) 9:45,
GAME DATA – SOG – Laurier 12-5-4-21, Lakehead 8-9-11-28; Power plays (goals-chances) – Laurier (2-6), Lakehead (0-3); Goaltenders – Laurier: Shayne Campbell, Lakehead: Justin McDonald; A: 2,609.
