THUNDER BAY – Bring on the Ryerson Rams.
A night after clinching a spot in the OUA West men's hockey playoffs, the Lakehead Thunderwolves learned who'll they'll face in the opening round.
The Wolves downed the visiting Waterloo Warriors 3-1 on Saturday night on home ice, but will remain the No. 7 seed when the playoffs begin on Wednesday night at Fort William Gardens, the second-place Ryerson Rams presenting a tough – but not unbeatable – opponent.
“We know we can't take it lightly,” said assistant captain Patrick Murphy, one of three graduating seniors honoured in a pre-game ceremony prior to their final regular season game with the Thunderwolves, who finished above .500 at 13-12-3, but lost out on sixth place to Laurier by coming up short in the regulation and overtime wins category
“We're playing again on Wednesday, so the main thing we were talking about in the room was just sticking to the game plan, doing the right things, playing our systems the right way and playing hard. I think in the second period we might have gotten away from that a little bit, but in the third period we came back out and played our game.”
Murphy played a key role in the outcome, scoring his third goal of the season in the first, the tally giving the Wolves a 2-0 lead at the time.
“I saw Larson get it in the slot and I just got in front of their goalie and turned around. It looked like it was just floating there for me and I took a whack and luckily I got a piece of it,” said Murphy, a defenceman for much of his LU tenure who has switched over to forward this season.
Blue-liner Callum Fryer, also honoured before the game, said it was an emotional night, his family in the stands – including his grandparents from across the pond in England.
But emotions aside, the team had a job to do.
“It was just a joy and I'm really happy with the result,” said Fryer, who finished with three assists in his final season with the Wolves.
“We've just got to keep forward moving toward the playoffs now.”
Lakehead coach Andrew Wilkins said hitting the post-season on a winning note, with a quick turnaround before Wednesday's opener, was key.
“It's good to have a strong finish,” he said, knowing the Rams won't be an easy opponent, strong at both ends of the ice.
“I think the win helps. Everybody's happy after a win ... Ryerson's a good team. They've got some high-end talent, guys that can score. They've been really hot as of late as well. We're going to need our best in every part of the game to stay with them and give ourselves a chance to win.”
The Thunderwolves got on the board 2:02 into the contest, Troy Williams driving a blast from the left point past Waterloo goaltender Julian Sime.
The Warriors got one back on LU goaltender Brock Aiken, author of 23 saves on the night, with 5:13 to go in the first, drilling a rebound through his feet to cut the Lakehead lead to 2-1.
The teams played a scoreless second.
Jordan King restored the two-goal lead 12 minutes into the third, finishing off a 2-on-1 pass from line-mate Geoff Dempster.
Claw marks: Also honoured before the game was injured goaltender Nic Renyard, who remains day-to-day.
FIRST PERIOD
Scoring: 1. Lakehead, Williams 1 (unassited) 2:02. 2. Lakehead, Murphy 3 (Larson, Gall) 10:58. 3. Waterloo, Pawelczyk 8 (Lovie) 14:47. Penalties: Bench minor WAT (too many men, served by Coulter) 2:48, Williams LAK (holding the stick), Nicoll WAT (roughing) 5:47, King LAK (slashing) 8:16, Williams LAK (iunterference, roughing, misconduct, served by McKitrick), Halagian (roughing, misconduct) 13:10.
SECOND PERIOD
Scoring: None. Penalties: Johnson WAT (roughing), McKitrick LAK (high sticking) 2:52, Halagian WAT (roughing) 11:03, Nicoll WAT, Williams LAK (unsportsmanlike conduct) 14:27, Laframboise LAK (slashing) 15:30, Soustal LAK (slashing)
THIRD PERIOD
Scoring: 4. Lakehead, King (Dempster) 8:08. Penalties: Halagian WAT, Boman LAK (head contact, game misconduct) 10:45, Coulter WAT (high sticking) 13:01, Soustal LAK (slashing) 14:04, Nicoll WAT (high sticking) 16:28, Scanlan WAT (delay of game) 20:00.
GAME DATA – SOG – Waterloo 6-12-6-24, Lakehead 20-6-12-38; Power plays (goals-chances) – Waterloo (1-4), Lakehead (0-5); Goaltenders – Waterloo: Julian Sime, Lakehead: Brock Aiken; A: 1,956.
