A Lakehead official jokingly asked Saturday night if there was a positive way to spin the Thunderwolves latest hockey loss.
In a nutshell, no, there wasn’t.
The Wolves took too many penalties, many of the dumb variety, turned the puck over far too often and left goaltender Devin Green hanging out to dry.
About the best thing to say about the game, from an LU perspective, is the visiting Carleton Ravens didn’t hit double digits.
They sure came close.
The No. 8 team in the country got goals from eight different players and absolutely trounced the Thunderwolves at Fort William Gardens, salvaging a weekend sweep with an 8-2 triumph.
“A couple of bad bounces went against us and they put it in the back of the net,” said Lakehead forward Kelin Ainsworth, trying to explain where the game went wrong.
The Wolves actually opened the scoring, Bill Jenkins netting the first of his two on the night at 4:25 of the first, the goal coming on a delayed penalty after Ainsworth took a stick to the face.
It was all downhill after that.
Sean Bamford tied it four minutes later and Clark Veenstra capitalized on a turnover just inside the LU blueline to push the Ravens in front 2-1.
They’d add three more before Jenkins scored again midway through the second and the rout was on.
“We were still in the game at 3-1 and that’s when the penalties kind of started snowballing. I think we just needed to go into the dressing room down 3-1, regroup and come out with a better effort in the second and we did kind of the opposite of that tonight,” Ainsworth said.
“I think after the first period, that’s where it kind of changed for us.”
The penalties definitely proved to be a problem.
Carleton (13-5-0) scored three times on 10 power plays, twice given a two-man advantage.
It’s something coach Bill McDonald wants to address.
“There were some undisciplined ones tonight,” the third-year coach said, adding there were a couple ones he hadn’t seen before, including Garick Gray being sent off when the knob fell off the end of his stick.
“What happens is it builds. What I saw in that game, we had another really good start. For the first five or seven minutes we were taking it to them. Then we made two blunders. There was the cross-ice pass to (Luke) Maw for the breakaway goal and then Devin obviously gave one up. Then you start chasing the game.”
Corey Durocher, Jeremie Fraser, Alexandre Boivin, Joey West and Brett Welychka, with the 12th goal of a stellar rookie campaign, were the other Ravens goal scorers. Francis Dupuis was the goaltender of record for the visitors, stopping 21 of 23 shots directed his way, while Green made 37 saves on 45 shots.
The loss leaves the Thunderwolves (3-11-4) six points shy of a playoff berth in the OUA West, with just 10 games to play.
Ainsworth said the players know they’re running out of time.
“Every game we look at as playoff hockey right now,” he said. “We look at every game as a must win pretty much, especially (next weekend) against Ryerson, a division team we’re chasing. They’re huge. Every single game we need to play like it’s our last game.”
Claw marks: Lakehead defenceman Linden Springer sat out with a one-game suspension after a fight with Carleton’s Hayden Hulton on Friday night … Carleton assistant coach Shaun Van Allen played 794 NHL games with Edmonton, Ottawa, Dallas, Montreal and Anaheim.
FIRST PERIOD
Scoring: 1. Lakehead, Jenkins (Gray, Maw) 5:51. 2. Carleton, Bamford (Zion) 9:24. 3. Carleton, Veenstra (unassisted) 9:47. 4. Carleton, Durocher (unassisted) 17:00. Penalties: C. Dubchak LAK (interference) 6:10, Wright LAK (holding) 18:08, Van Stralen CAR (roughing) 19:16, Weckworth CAR (holding) 20:00.
SECOND PERIOD
Scoring: 5. Carleton, Fraser (unassisted) 4:25 pp. 6. Carleton, Boivin (Boland) 5:28. 7. Lakehead, Jenkins (Ainsworth, C. Dubchak) 10:07 pp. Penalties: Sefton LAK (slashing) 1:42, Gilbert LAK (cross checking) 2:30, Gray LAK (ineligible player) 3:15, Ringuette LAK (misconduct) 4:25, Gilbert LAK (high sticking) 6:15, Stevens CAR (roughing) 8:54, Gustavsen CAR (slashing) 9:48, Butler LAK (high sticking) 13:18, Cull LAK (charging) 16:35.
THIRD PERIOD
Scoring: 8. Carleton, West (Brown) 3:46. 9. Carleton, Welychka (McNamee, Brown) 7:35 pp. 10. Carleton, Meighan (Veenstra, Brown) Penalties: Kunz LAK (roughing) 6:38, B. Dubchak LAK (roughing) 9:52, B. Dubchak LAK (slashing), Fraser CAR (high sticking) 12:09, Stevens CAR (kneeing) 14:06, West CAR (tripping) 18:52.
GAME DATA – SOG – Carleton 15-12-18-45, Lakehead 8-6-9-23 Power plays (goals-chances) – Carleton (3-10), Lakehead (1-6); Goaltenders – Carleton: Francis Dupuis, Lakehead: Devin Green; A: 2,009.
