Hyvarinen OT hero for Wolves

Andy Hyvarinen scored 2:01 into overtime on Wednesday night as the Lakehead Thunderwolves drew first blood in their OUA Western Conference semfinal with a 4-3 win against the host Guelph Gryphons.

The goal ended any hope the Gryphons had of completing their comeback, after resurrecting themselves from a two-goal deficit with less than 10 minutes to go in regulation.
Timothy Priamo and Kris Belan scored exactly four minutes apart in the third to tie the score 3-3 and send the game to OT.

Guelph took a 1-0 lead in the first on Patrick Campbell’s first of the playoffs, and it took Dan Speer until the 2:30 mark of the second to get the Wolves back on even ground.
Ryan McDonald pushed LU out in front at 14:00 of the second, and Matt Caria upped the lead to two at 10:19 of the third.

Alex Dupuis made 31 saves to earn his third win of the postseason.

The Wolves and Gryphons will tangle in Game 2 of the best-of-three series on Friday night at Fort William Gardens. Game 3, if necessary, goes Saturday night.

In the other OUA Western Conference semifinal on Wednesday night, Chris Corbeil scored a natural hat trick in the third period, breaking a 2-2 tie and handed the Western Mustangs a 5-2 win and a 1-0 series lead over the upstart Windsor Lancers.