Ridgebacks stun Thunderwolves at home

The hockey gods giveth and then they taketh away.

The No. 7 Lakehead Thunderwolves controlled their own destiny heading into Friday night’s game against the lowly last place University of Ontario Institute of Technology Ridgebacks, but blew a 3-0 first period lead and wound up on the losing end of a 6-5 decision in front of 2,900 fans at Fort William Gardens. 

Tony Rizzi had a hat trick – including the winner with 1:00 to play – and added an assist for the Ridgebacks, who prevented the Wolves from regaining a share of top spot in the OUA Western Conference with the Western Mustangs and a chance to take solo first on Saturday.
In fact, with Waterloo’s OT win over York on Friday, the Wolves (17-6-2) slipped to third place, with three games left on their 2009-10 slate.

“We knew that UOIT was going to come at us hard, and they did. They beat some really beat some really good teams this year in Western and Waterloo and our effort wasn’t there and mentally we didn’t play well either,” said LU coach Joel Scherban. “We got what we deserved.”

The first-year bench boss said he isn’t surprised that the Ridgebacks fought back from a three-goal deficit, given the way his team had performed to that point. But, he added, it wasn’t a case of the team resting on its laurels after opening a big lead.

“I thought the players would come out much more motivated, knowing we were in control of the division now. I don’t think it had anything to do with being up 3-0 because I don’t think we deserved to be up 3-0. I thought we got outplayed pretty badly in the first period and we got lucky we were up,” he said. “We tried to rely on skill too much and hard work beat skill tonight.

Victor Anilane, Ryan McDonald and Matt Caria, who took a cross-crease pass from Shandor Alphonso at and deposited behind UOIT goalie Jason Guy to stake the Wolves to the 3-0 advantage, scored within 5:03 of each other, the final tally coming at the 14:50 mark.
At that point, UOIT coach Marlin Muylaert (10-14-1) called his troops to the bench for a confab, a move Rizzi said got the Ridgebacks back on track.

“We felt like we were playing well. We came out strong, but we made a couple of mistakes and they have good players and they scored on those mistakes. The coach just wanted to tell us we were playing good and to not worry about the score and keep going. We got one to end the period, came out good in the second and just kept playing our game, basically,” said Rizzi, an Ontario Hockey League grad who spent time in Kingston and Peterborough before moving on to Oshawa and the Ridgebacks.

In a desperate situation, tied for last place with the Brock Badgers and needing to put points on the board to secure the eighth and final playoff berth, the Ridgebacks had nothing to lose, Rizzi said.

“On paper, our backs are up against the wall ... As for our game plan, we wanted to come in and keep it close to the third and have a chance to win. And the bounces went our way, kind of, to tie it up and I was lucky to get that one in the end,” Rizzi said.

Brent Varty started the comeback in earnest, beating Kyle Moir on a goal-mouth scramble with 32 second left in the period, the first of two power play goals UOIT would manage on the night.

Rizzi scored a pretty one to close the gap to 3-2, breaking through traffic before a left-right deke made Moir guess wrong and watch the puck slide into the net.

Rizzi tied the game at 13:56, and less than two minutes later UOIT took its first lead of the night when Scott Baker fired a low shot on Moir that found a hole. However, newcomer Matt Dias took matters into his own hands, grabbing his own rebound and beating Guy on the power play with less than two minutes to go, netting his seventh goal in just nine games and the two teams entered the third tied 4-4.

It appeared the Wolves had righted the ship, again on the power play, when Matt Caria scored his sixth of the season to extend his point streak to nine games, but Ryan Spencer responded, bouncing a puck through traffic that beat Moir, his first of the season for UOIT, and the game was tied 5-5.

With exactly one minute left in regulation, Rizzi went short-side on Moir to secure the win. Scherban pulled his goalie and the Wolves had a couple of good chances, but were unable to find a hole.

Claw marks: Expect a couple of line-up changes in Saturday’s rematch. Defenceman Bryan Wilson and forward Arron Alphonso have been pencilled into the lineup, though Scherban wouldn’t say who was coming out ... Other scratches Friday included Brock McPherson (upper body), Devin Welsh, Brennan Menard and Mike Thibert ... A ceremony before Saturday’s game will honour fourth- and fifth-year senior players. Dan Speer, Shandor Alphonso and Scott Dobben are the fifth-year guys. Fourth-year forward Mark Soares,  who is eligible to return for one more season with the Wolves, but has decided to seek a pro opportunity elsewhere, will also be honoured.

FIRST PERIOD
Scoring:  1. Lakehead, Anilane 10 (Sergerie, Hyvarinen) 9:47. 2. Lakehead  McDonald 5 (Hogg, Wilkins)14:36 . 3. Lakehead, Caria 5 (Dias, Alphonso) 14:50. 4. UOIT, Varty 7 (Spaling,Noyes) 19:28 pp. Penalties: Spencer UOIT (tripping) 7:12, Sagert LAK (interference) 15:20, McDonald LAK (tripping) 18:34.

SECOND PERIOD
Scoring: 5. UOIT, Rizzi 7 (Legge) 11:27, 6. UOIT, Rizzi 8 (Purves, Spencer) 13:56.  7. UOIT, Baker 6 (Noyes, Spaling) 15:32 pp. 8. Lakehead, Dias 7 (Caria) 18:10 pp. Penalties: Purves UOIT (holding) McDonald LAK (double minor, high sticking) 15:24, Spencer UOIT (cross checking) 16:39.

THIRD PERIOD
Scoring: 9. Lakehead, Caria 6 (Zulyniak, Speer) 8:40 pp. 10. UOIT, Spencer 1 (Noyes, Rizzi). 10:48 11. UOIT, Rizzi 9 (Varty) 19:00. Penalties: Purves UOIT (unsportsmanlike conduct) 8:16.

SOG – UOIT 15-8-9-32, Lakehead 8-8-11-27; Power plays (goals-chances): UOIT (2-3), Lakehead (2-3); Goaltenders – UOIT: Jason Guy, Lakehead: Kyle Moir; A: 2,902.