Neither Adam Sergerie nor Mike Busniuk thought it was necessarily a bad penalty.
But what the Lakehead Thunderwolves captain and interim coach did concede is that Brennan Menard’s second-period high-sticking double minor was costly. Tommy Tremblay and Charles Bety scored 51 seconds apart on the ensuring power play, erasing an early 2-0 Lakehead lead.
Then with the remainder of regulation and a five-minute, four-on-four overtime deciding nothing other than the two top 10-ranked teams are competitively close, Olivier Donavan beat Alex Dupuis with the only successful shootout goal Friday night, earning the University of Quebec-Trois Rivieres (7-2-1) a hard-fought 3-2 win.
“It’s unfortunate on that specific penalty they were able to get two goals on it,” Sergerie said. “To say it was bad, I guess would be a little unfair. That’s the way it goes sometimes, you get a penalty and they take advantage of it.”
Sergerie, who did not factor on the score sheet, said the lesson learned is they can’t afford to let up, especially against a team ranked fourth in the nation.
“We played 50 minutes of hockey tonight, and when we played that 50 minutes it was 2-0. For the 10 minutes that we let up, it was 2-0 for them,” he said.
“If we take anything out of this, it’s 60 minutes of hockey and we should win the game.”
Busniuk had his own take.
"Whether it was a penalty or not, it was a penalty that was taken 200 feet from your own net. He didn't try (to get) it. Obviously no one tries to take a penalty. It's just that it happened and we got four minutes," Busniuk chipped in. "Other than those four minutes, I thought we played well. I thought the first and third period were our periods."
Though they picked up a point and remain tied atop the OUA West standings, albeit having played more games than the competition chasing them, Sergerie said sliding down the division ladder is not something the Wolves can afford to do.
But losing three of four games means it’s bound to start happening sooner, rather than later, if things don’t pick up.
“Obviously we were aware before the game how tight the standings are and how important this game was,” he said, “them being ranked fourth in the nation and us seventh. But we’re trying to change a few things up here and it’s coming. It’s around the corner.”
First and foremost their shots need to find some holes. The iron clanked in all four periods of play, including a Luke Judson blast early in the third that could have been the difference maker, but instead rang out of harm’s way.
Five minutes later line-mate Matt Caria drove one off the mask of UQTR goalie Guillaume Nadeau, forcing an immediate stoppage in play while he collected his thoughts.
In overtime it was Andrew Wilkins who fired the puck of the post, the goals not coming nearly as easily as they did in the first, when Mike Quesnele’s laser from the point found the back of the net behind Nadeau at 10:37.
Judson popped home a loose puck in traffic less than a minute later, giving the Wolves a 2-0 lead they’d hang onto until Tremblay crushed a shot at Dupuis, a shot that initially appeared to hit the crossbar and stay out.
But after making no call until they discussed the matter further, they pointed to centre ice and awarded the goal, cutting the LU lead in half. Earlier in the game Lakehead (6-3-2) had a goal waved off.
Dupuis made the first stop on Bety’s goal, but couldn’t stop a backhand shot on the rebound, evening the score at 12:30 of the middle stanza.
Overtime solved nothing and it wasn’t until the sixth skater in the shootout that the winning goal was had, after Lakehead's Mike Hammond had the puck poked away by Nadeau, Caria slammed one off the post and Thomas Frazee failed to find the five-hole on what proved to be the final shot of the contest.
The two sides meet again on Saturday night. Game time is 7:30 p.m.
FIRST PERIOD
Scoring: 1. Lakehead, Quesnele 1 (Caria, Hammond) 10:37. 2. Lakehead, Judson 7 (Caria, Hammond) 11:30. Penalties: Gamache LAK (hooking) 8:13, Dubchak LAK (slashing) 12:29, Gamache LAK (slashing) 18:11.
SECOND PERIOD
Scoring: 3. UQTR, Tremblay 3 (Robichaud, Lessard) 11:39 pp. 4. UQTR, Bety 4 (Lessard, Quevilion) 12:30 pp. Penalties: Laurence-Beauchemin UQTR (slashing) 4:15, Menard LAK (high sticking double minor) 9:51, Quevilion UQTR (roughing) 17:24.
THIRD PERIOD
Scoring: None. Penalties: Magill LAK (boarding) 2:52.
OVERTIME
Scoring: None. Penalties: Frazee LAK, Lacasse UQTR (roughing) 3:52.
GAME DATA – SOG – UQTR 6-13-7-5-31, Lakehead 8-8-12-1-29; Power plays (goals-chances) – UQTR (2-5), Lakehead (0-2); Goaltenders – UQTR: Guillaume Nadeau, Lakehead: Alex Dupuis; A: 2,749.
SHOOTOUT
Petit, UQTR (miss)
Hammond, LAK (miss)
Poirier, UQTR (miss)
Caria, LAK (post)
Donovan, UQTR (goal)
Frazee. LAK (miss)
