The Lakehead Thunderwolves have about 21 hours to regroup and start their hockey season anew.
The Wolves defence lapsed for five costly second-period minutes Friday night, wiping out a well-earned 2-0 lead as the visiting Ottawa Gee Gees stormed back and stunned the Wolves, hanging on for a 4-3 win.
LU`s newly minted captain Adam Sergerie said the Thunderwolves can`t afford to take any lead for granted going forward, non-conference contest or not.
“It’s a tough break. We came out 2-0 and then we gave them a little bit of momentum, and that’s what happens when you give a team a little bit of momentum and unfortunately we weren’t able to recover from that.
“We took a couple of penalties and they capitalized on that.”
Lakehead coach Joel Scherban wasn’t reading too much into the season-opening loss, but said he knows his squad will have to figure out how to put a full game together in Saturday’s rematch if they want to salvage the weekend split at Fort William Gardens, where 2,841 took in Friday’s game.
It’s the partial effort he can’t take.
“We were in good shape in the beginning of the second period. We had some good chances in the first half of the second period, where we probably could have gotten a three- or four-goal lead and we didn’t. And I thought they outplayed us after that,” Scherban said, entering his fourth season behind the Thunderwolves bench.
The momentum changer came with just over five minutes to play in the middle stanza. Sophomore Keith Grondin and veteran blue-liner Mike Quesnele, off a pretty feed from Mike Hammond, had given the Wolves a two-goal cushion, Quesnele’s goal coming at 12:53 of the second.
Luc Olivier Blain-Ouellet began the comeback 91 seconds later, his shot deflected past Lakehead starter Alex Dupuis, cutting the Ottawa deficit in half.
Then trouble struck.
Lakehead assistant captain Andrew Wilkins was sent off for cross checking – one of just three minor penalties called all night, none in the first – and though the Wolves penalty-kill unit officially killed it off, Ottawa’s Guillaume Donovan bashed home a puck Dupuis initially thought he’d covered and the game was tied 2-2.
Paul Forster gave the Gee Gees the lead for good, with just 32 seconds remaining in the period, slipping it over Dupuis’s pad and below his glove.
Alexandre Touchette scored an unassisted tally at 17:08 of the third, putting the game out of reach, though Mike Hammond did give the Wolves fleeting, though unlikely, hope when he beat Russel Abbott with 5.4 seconds to go in regulation.
Scherban said he thought Lakehead had more scoring chances, but just couldn’t bury them.
“We need to get more pucks on net, that’s for sure. We want to be more of a puck possession team and we were turning the puck over pretty quick in the offensive zone and we didn’t get any sustained pressure in their end. We have to improve on that for sure.”
Notes: Riley McIntosh and Trevor Gamache (groin) were sidelined with injuries. Defenceman Luke Maw and forwards Victor Anilane and Jason Grecica were healthy scratches. Scherban expects the latter three will all make their way into the lineup in Saturday’s rematch. Jeff Bosch is scheduled to start in nets for LU.
FIRST PERIOD
Scoring: Lakehead, Grondin (MacDonald, Frazee) 5:13. Penalties: None.
SECOND PERIOD
Scoring: 2. Lakehead, Quesnele (Hammond) 12:53. 3. Ottawa, Blain-Ouellet (Voyer, Jalbert) 14:24. 4. Ottawa Donovan (Fournier, Touchette) 17:48. 5. Ottawa, Forster (Tanguay-Theriault, Layton) 19:28. Penalties: Dubchak LAK (charging) 5:16, Wilkins LAK (cross checking) 15:47.
THIRD PERIOD
Scoring: 6. Ottawa, Touchete (unassisted) 17:08. 7. Lakehead, Hammond (Grondin, Caria) 19:55. Penalties: Donovan OTT (hooking) 7:57.
GAME DATA – SOG – Ottawa 12-11-0-0, Lakehead (8-7-0-0); Power plays (goals-chances) – Ottawa (0-2), Lakehead (0-1); Goaltenders – Ottawa: Russel Abbott, Lakehead: Alex Durpuis; A: 2,841.
