Penalties kill Wolves

The Lakehead Thunderwolves lost a pair of early games to Waterloo last season and it cost them top spot in the OUA West.

It very may well cost them again.

Penalties paved the way for a trio of Warrior goals on Friday night, including Kyle Sonnenburg’s overtime winner with 12 seconds to go, and the Wolves (0-1-0) began their 10th campaign with a 5-4 loss to their division rivals.

Sonnenburg took advantage of Matt Caria’s double minor midway through the extra frame, blasting a slap shot from the top of the circle that crushed its way past Alex Dupuis into the top corner of the Thunderwolves net.

“It was a pretty close game all day. We were getting a lot of shots on net, we just put it in. Eventually we just got it in there,” a modest Sonnenburg said after the game.

The fourth-year defenceman, who scored just three times last season, said the double minor Caria was the key blow that sank the Thunderwolves and gave Waterloo their third straight win over Lakehead and fifth in their last seven meetings.

Having it happen in overtime, with one less body on each side, was just a bonus.

“Most of the time you like four-on-threes as opposed to five-on-fours. You’ve got more room. There’s more space and you can get more shots off,” said the Waterloo native, whose team outshot Lakehead 9-0 in overtime and 41-32 overall.

Lakehead coach Joel Scherban was not impressed with his team’s inability to stay out of the penalty box in the second half of the tightly forged contest, after taking just one penalty in the first 24 minutes of play.

“We talked about it before the game. We couldn’t beat ourselves and we couldn’t take penalties. We had to play disciplined and with composure and as the game when on, we lacked that,” the second-year coach said.

“There were quite a few slashing penalties, which are unacceptable, especially behind the other team’s net. And then (there was) the double minor in overtime. If you put yourself in situations like that, more likely than not you’re going to lose.”

Scherban said his players have to learn that the opposition is going to come at them hard and try to draw them into taking penalties.

The Warriors were successful at the game, and it took the life out of the Wolves, he added. That just led to a whole rash of other problems.

“I thought as a whole our decision-making was bad and our execution was very poor in a number of areas,” Scherban said. “The guys were coming to the bench and talking about what they did wrong. They know when they came to the bench that they did it wrong. And that’s a problem, when they know what they should be doing and they’re not executing it.

Lakehead jumped out to an early lead when rookie defender Mike Quesnele pinched in from the blueline and ripped a shot past Waterloo’s Keenan Hartigan at 8:36 of the opening period.

Kris Hogg put Lakehead up two 70 seconds into the second, but then the Warriors took control.

It was a game the Wolves controlled for most of the first 30 minutes, but one they let get away with a lack of discipline in the second.

Waterloo notched two of its three middle stanza goals – coming seven minutes and seven seconds apart on the power play, starting with sophomore Kirt Hill’s first of the campaign at 6:38. After Zulyniak restored the two-goal LU lead at the 9:35 mark, Kyle Schwende cut the lead to one at 11:33 and two minutes later Kurt Thorner tied the score at three

Waterloo’s Kirt Hill gave Waterloo its first lead 1:38 into the third, winning a goal-mouth scramble and knocking it past Dupuis.

Fifth-year senior Andy Zulyiak tied the score at 4:27 of the third, floating a shot at Hartigan that was redirected by a Warrior player in front.

Claw marks: Lakehead dropped its season-opener record to 4-5-1 with Friday’s OT loss. It was the fourth time in 10 openers they began with Waterloo. They won the first 9-3 in 2003, lost 2-1 in 2004 and edged the Warriors 5-4 in 2006-07 on a five-point night from Tobias Whelan ... Fifth-year defenceman Zulyniak is sporting No. 22, this year, after wearing No. 34 his first four seasons with the Thunderwolves ... Forward Brennan Menard and defenceman Mike Thibert were the Wolves healthy scratches.

First period
Scoring: 1. Lakehead, Quesnele 1 (Caria, McDonald) 11:36 pp. Penalties: Moir WAT (tripping) 9:38, Molle WAT (high sticking) 11:26

Second period
Scoring: 2. Lakehead, Hogg 1 (Wilkins, Hyvarinen) 1:10, 3. Waterloo Whitely 1 (Sonnenburg, Schnurr) 6:38 pp. 4. Lakehead, Zulyniak 1 (McPherson, Alphonso) 9:35, 5. Waterloo, Schwende 1 (Ray, Moir) 11:33. 6. Waterloo, Thorner 1 (Schnurr, Moir) 13:45 pp. Penalties: Wilkins LAK (interference) 4:03, Caria LAK (slashing) 6:21, Anilane LAK (slashing) 12:24, Quesnele LAK (cross checking) 13:26, Ray WAT (interference) 14:30, Ray WAT (high sticking double minor) 16:42.

Third period
Scoring: 7. Waterloo, Hill 1 (Schnurr, Wong) 1:38. 8: Lakehead, Zulyniak 2 (McPherson) 4:27. Penalties: Hill WAT, Wilkins LAK (unsportsmanlike conduct) 7:10, Sonnenburg WAT (interference) 13:58, McDonald LAK (tripping) 16:09.

Overtime
Scoring: 9, Sonnenburg 1 (Ray, Whitely) 4:48. Penalties: Caria LAK (slashing, roughing) 2:07, Caria LAK (misconduct) 4:48.

Game Data – SOG – Waterloo 8-11-13-9-41, Lakehead 11-13-8-0-0; Power plays (goals-chances) – Waterloo (3-6), Lakehead (1-4); Goaltenders – Waterloo: Keaton Hartigan, Lakehead: Alex Dupuis; A: 2,573.