THUNDER BAY -- The Lakehead Thunderwolves are starting to find themselves behind the eight-ball in more ways than one.
Three first period goals against put Lakehead in a hole the Thunderwolves could not dig their way out of, ultimately falling 4-2 to the Brock Badgers in Ontario regular season play at the Fort William Gardens on Friday.
The defeat is the fifth straight for a Lakehead (3-6-2) squad that found themselves one win away from qualifying for the national championships just one season ago.
Captain Luke Maw knows time is starting to become off the essence.
“We have to have it,” Maw answered when asked about the importance of rebounding on Saturday. “We wanted this one too but it slipped away from us a little bit but we need (Saturday) really bad.”
The losing streak is compounded by the number of players, specifically defencemen, currently sidelined with injury woes.
Without the services of Mitch Fillman, Nathan Bruyere and Andrew Tessier, the Thunderwolves took the ice with just four natural blueliners, only three of them who were in the opening night lineup.
Lakehead bench boss Bill McDonald was not in a mood to make excuses.
“We can’t sit here and feel sorry for ourselves because we have a pile of guys hurt. It’s hockey, that’s part of it. We’re caught in it now and we just have to try to climb out of it and get some win,” he said.
“We have to try and get some points here until we get the ship righted and we get healthier.”
The besieged defence group was composed of Maw, Mike Quesnele, Jay Gilbert, Cody Kostecki and forwards Jake Carrick and Trevor Hynnes who were thrust into new roles.
In a contest where obtaining an early lead was paramount, Lakehead found themselves playing from behind.
That started just eight minutes in when Badgers forward Andrew Turcotte swiped the puck right off the stick of Carrick and beat an unsuspecting Justin McDonald.
The Thunderwolves were able to reply and draw back even minutes later when Keith Grondin took a pass at the blueline from linemate Mike Hammond and cleanly beat Badgers goalie Adrian Volpe.
That deadlock, the last time Lakehead was at square one, lasted a mere 28 seconds before Brock took advantage of an overly aggressive Thunderwolves defence with Tyson Dallman holding and scoring on an odd-man rush.
The lead was doubled 52 seconds after that as the Badgers put together another odd-man rush, this time created by an ill-timed hit by Quesnele, with Johnson Adams finishing a pretty two-on-one pass by Andrew Radjenovic.
Aggressive risks with an undermanned unit can’t happen, McDonald said.
“If we would have taken them away we would have won the game. It’s our own fault. We talked about if we’re going to win these games we have to do it as a team without giving up odd-man situations,” McDonald said.
“Guys are obviously playing out of place and you have to do things right or you don’t have a chance.”
Lakehead got back within one in the second period as Mike Hammond provided the only flash the power play would show in their six attempts, taking advantage of a turnover and solving Volpe.
Andrews would go on to net his second of the night in the third to finish out the scoring.
Claw marks: Lakehead falls to 1-3-1 at home…McDonald said none of the injured players who were absent will be able to go on Saturday…Injured goaltender Jeff Bosch was able to resume practicing this week but appears to still be battling symptoms from a concussion suffered in October...The two teams are back at it Saturday with puck drop scheduled for 7:30 p.m. at the Fort William Gardens.
FIRST PERIOD
Scoring: 1. Brock, Turcotte 3 (unassisted) 8:07. 2. Lakehead, Grondin 5 (Hammond, Carrick) 14:33. 3. Brock, Dallman 1 (Gignac, Geldart) 15:01. 4. Brock, Andrews 1 (Radjenovic, Fielding) 15:53. Penalties: Gilbert LAK (slashing) 5:23; MacEachern BRK (elbowing) 19:01.
SECOND PERIOD
Scoring: 5. Lakehead, Hammond 7 (Grondin) 6:33 pp. Penalties: Dallman BRK (slashing) 4:53; Geldart BRK (holding) 11:52; Tanel BRK (cross-checking) 14:48; P. Volpe BRK (cross-checking) 16:48; M. Quesnele LAK (slashing) 19:58.
THIRD PERIOD
Scoring: 6. Brock, Andrews 2 (Banga, Welsh) 4:27. Penalties: Hynnes LAK (cross-checking) 6:37; MacEachern BRK (interference) 9:19; M. Quesnele LAK (tripping) 16:36.
GAME DATA – SOG – Brock (14-7-9-30), Lakehead (11-7-13-31), Power plays (goals-chances) – Brock (0-3), Lakehead (1-6); Goaltenders – Brock: Adrian Volpe, Lakehead: Justin McDonald ; A: 2,361
