THUNDER BAY -- On Friday night, the Lakehead Thunderwolves looked pretty good on the penalty kill, even scoring once.
Saturday was a different story.
The Wolves allowed a pair of power play goals less than two minutes apart to the Windsor Lancers in a penalty-filled second period, two of the three goals their opponent scored in the middle stanza, and had to settle for an opening weekend split, falling 6-3 to their OUA West Division rival at Fort William Gardens.
Forward Brennan Feasey was the offensive star for the Lancers, scoring a hat trick – half the total he put up in a dozen games last season – while defenceman Todd Ratchford chipped in two goals and two helpers.
“It’s a team game, but it’s a nice personal goal to get for sure. There were a lot of nice passes, a lot of nice plays. It’s tough to come in here and play. The two points, we’ll take it. Sure, we obviously wanted four, but we’re pretty happy coming into this barn and taking two points,” said Feasey, a Strathroy, Ont. native who spent parts of two seasons in the Ontario Hockey League.
While the goals were aplenty for the Lancers on Saturday night, Feasey said that’s not how the team will find its success this season.
“We may not out-skill every team, but if we combine our skill and our work ethic, I think we can compete with any team in this league,” the 22-year-old said.
The Wolves didn’t help themselves, especially in the middle stanza.
Blessed with a full two-minute, two-man power play four minutes into the period, their advantage was short-lived when Jake Ringuette took an interference call and the Thunderwolves, tied 1-1 at the time, were unable to find the back of the net behind Windsor goalie Kris Joyce.
“Friday night, I think we took three penalties,” said newly named captain Justin Sefton. “Tonight, we had eight and I think maybe four or five of them were selfish penalties, you could say.
“They ended up costing us the game. That’s something we’re going to have to work on and I think that’s going to come down to individual guys having to work on it and us working on it as a team.”
Coach Bill McDonald was thrilled his team held Windsor to just 18 shots, a little less happy they allowed six goals, albeit Ratchford’s second was into an empty net.
“That’s not good,” said the third-year bench boss. “I thought we started good. We had great speed and the shots were four or five to nothing and they got one shot at the other end … We weren’t solid at times. It was probably about a four-minute span in the second that probably cost us.”
Ratchford opened the scoring on Windsor’s first shot at the 5:44 mark of the opening period, but Kelin Ainsworth, Friday’s hero, evened the score on the power play late in the first, firing a wrist shot past Joyce.
Feasey powered a shot through traffic that beat Devin Green midway through the first for a 2-1 Windsor lead, an advantage they’d never relinquish.
Tyson Ness doubled the lead 55 seconds later, Feasey netting his second of the night 58 seconds after that.
Cody Alcock replied for Thunder Bay on a delayed penalty call, the Lancers already down a man, but early in the third the Wolves failed to clear the puck and Ratchford made them pay with his second of the night. Carson Dubchak pulled LU within two at the 7:32 mark, but Lakehead was unable to capitalize on a pair of late power plays.
Claw marks: Attendance was announced at 2,099 … Lakehead takes to the road next weekend for a game against Ryerson and two against Toronto. Their next home game is Nov. 4 against Ontario Tech.
FIRST PERIOD
Scoring: 1. Windsor, Ratchford 1 (Anthony, Dundas) 5:44. 2. Lakehead, Ainsworth 2 (Alcock, Butler) 18:35 pp. Penalties: Anthony WSR (tripping) 1:55, Veres WSR 17:41 pp.
SECOND PERIOD
Scoring: 3. Windsor, Feasey 1 (Denomme, Bauman) 9:31 pp. 4. Windsor, Ness 1 (Dundas, Anthony) 10:26. 5. Windsor, Feasey 2 (Ratchford, Denomme) 11:24 pp. 6. Lakehead, Alcock 1 (Schutt, B. Dubchak) 16:10 pp. Penalties: Dundas WSR (interference) 0:28, Bauman WSR (cross checking), Ratchford WSR (slashing) 3:55, Ringuette LAK (interference) 4:38, Beauregard WSR, C. Dubchak LAK (roughing) 7:03, Faust LAK (high sticking) 7:44, Ringuette LAK (slashing) 11:09, Hynnes LAK (hooking) 12:16, Blondeel WSR (interference) 15:02, Dundas WSR (hooking) 16:10.
THIRD PERIOD
Scoring: 7. Windsor, Feasey 3 (Beauregard, Ratchford) 1:06. 8. Lakehead, C. Dubchak 1 (Mignault, Schutt) 7:32. 9. Windsor, Ratchford 2 (Scott) 18:47 en. Penalties: Dundas WSR (high sticking) 11:52, Luciani WSR (interference) 16:34.
GAME DATA – SOG – Windsor 6-9-3-18, Lakehead 11-11-8-30; Power plays (goals-chances) – Windsor (2-4), Lakehead (2-7); Goaltenders – Windsor: Kris Joyce, Lakehead: Devin Green; A: 2,099 (paid).
