Slide snapped

The hockey gods giveth and the hockey gods taketh away.

Sometimes, when you least expect it, they give it back again.

The Lakehead Thunderwolves must have done some heavy praying Saturday night, rebounding from an awful second period and a pair of two-goal deficits to salvage their final homestand of the season. Jadran Beljo scored three goals, two on breakaways, and a charging Mitch Maunu netted the winner at 0:56 of overtime to secure the unlikely 7-6 win.

The goaltender’s nightmare ended Lakehead’s four-game OUA slide and couldn’t have come at a better time, with Brock and Guelph both winning and temporarily moving into a third-place tie with the Wolves before the two points were added to their total.

“We just needed a bounce, I guess,” said Maunu, who scored for the second night in a row. “Our whole team needed a bounce and finally we got one on me scoring. I mean that doesn’t happen very often. I got lucky the past couple of nights. But it was nice to get a win and get out of the slump we’re in.”

The fourth-year defenceman said after Friday night’s 4-2 loss, the team held a meeting to discuss the mental aspects of the game that seem to have fallen by the wayside.

Whatever was said seemed to work – eventually.

“In the third we came out and showed some character. We’re missing a lot of our key guys on our team and we came out in the third ... and each time they scored we battled back and just wanted it.

Coach Joel Scherban said it’s probably the hardest the Thunderwolves have competed all season.

“We had no give up. We got some bad bounces and we had some bad calls against us. We competed as hard as we’ve competed. When you look at the guys we had out of our lineup, it’s a great win for our team.

Jordan Smith and Matt Caria are at the World University Games in Turkey, where they’ll play for a bronze medal.

Surprise scratches included Kris Hogg, who returned Friday night after missing four games with a knee injury, and Kalvin Sagert, who couldn’t answer the bell. The latter situation left the Wolves with just four healthy defencemen in the lineup, forcing forward Andrew Wilkins to the blue-line for the night.

“You can’t say enough about the job Andrew Wilkins did tonight. He used to be a defenceman back in his day, and he fit right in, didn’t miss a beat,” Maunu said. “He did really well.”

Beljo, who scored his first of the season on Friday night on a penalty shot, used a partial breakaway to beat David Blair with the first six minutes of play. Ryan McDonald, who had two on the night, netted his first at 14:03, but Kyle Lamb buried a one-timer behind Kyle Moir before the break and the Wolves owned a 2-1 lead after one.

The Lions owned the second period, however, erasing the lead on the power play on Jaskirat Gill’s first of two. Adam Stuart put York up by one at 8:34 and then it was Gill’s turn, shovelling a pass from behind the LU net that bounced off Mike Quesnele and ended Moir’s night.

The change in net sparked the Wolves.

With Lakehead trailing 5-3 in the final minute of play, Beljo sent the puck soaring in the air in front of Blair, only to have Matt Thompson knock into his own net.

Down two men Lakehead tied the score on Beljo’s third of the night at the 6:40 mark, but less than a minute later Thomson gave York a 6-5 lead.

Brock McPherson took care of that 20 seconds later, this time short one player, stealing the puck in the neutral zone and beating Blair for the equalizer at 7:49.

York coach Jim Wells, who earned three of four points on the weekend, said his team worked its tails off, but to no avail.

“I think we gave it to them. I don’t think they took it from us. We battled just as hard, we put six goals on the board and I think the young team made some mistakes. I really believe that this is a good character builder for our hockey,” Wells said.

First period
Scoring: 1. Lakehead, Beljo 2 (Gamache, Hyvarinen) 5:52. 2. Lakehead, McDonald 15 (McPherson, Sergerie) 14:03 pp. 3. York, Lamb (Gill, Stuart) 18:13 pp. Penalties: Hohmann YRK (roughing) 12:05, Preston YRK (roughing), McPherson LAK (interference), Welsh LAK (roughing) 16:20, Maunu (cross checking) 16:49, Stuart YRK (roughing) 19:36.

Second period
Scoring: 4. York, Gill 4 (Stuart,Thomson) 6:35 pp. 5. York, Stuart 8 (Micks, Short) 8:34 pp. 6. York Gill 5 (Jones, Thomson) 11:46. 7. Lakehead, McDonald 16 (Quesnele, Zulyniak) 16:40 pp. 8. York, Micks 11 (Hohmann, Messier) 18:13 pp. 9. Lakehead, Beljo 3 (Zulyniak) 19:39. Penalties: Messier YRK (high sticking) 1:51, McDonald LAK (tripping) 5:18, Preston YRK (holding) 16:05. Magill LAK (cross checking) 17:11.

Third period
Scoring: 10. Lakehead, Beljo 4 (unassisted) 6:40 sh. York, Thomson 4 (Micks, Messier) 7:29 pp. 12. Lakehead, McPherson 12 (Zulyniak) 7:49 sh. Penalties: Jones YRK (slashing) 3:03, McPherson LAK (cross checking) 5:29, Gamache LAK (slashing) 6:21, Labute YRK (double minor, spearing) 9:04, McDonald LAK (unsportsmanlike conduct) 11:06.

Overtime
Scoring: 13. Lakehead, Mitch Maunu 3 (Hyvarinen, Menard) 0:56. Penalties: None.

Game Data – SOG – York 17-13-8-0-38, Lakehead 11-7-9-1-28; Power plays (goals-chances) – York (4-7) Lakehead (2-6); Goaltenders – York: David Blair, Lakehead: Kyle Moir (22 shots, 18 saves), Alex Dupuis (11:46, second); A: 2,721.