Wolves build big lead, rely on Dupuis to snap losing streak

Call it a lesson learned for the Lakehead Thunderwolves men’s hockey team.

But coach Joel Scherban isn’t quite ready to give his squad a passing grade just yet, despite a relatively easy 5-1 win Friday night over the visiting Guelph Gryphons.

Scherban liked what he saw for the first half of the contest, not so much in the second half, and wasn’t ready to heap much praise on a team that lost three of its first four games and sits at 2-2-1 after five.

“I thought the first 35 minutes was the hardest we’ve competed all year. We were able to establish a forecheck right away,” Scherban said.

“I thought, to be completely honest, in the second half we sat back and watched them play for 25 minutes. We stopped paying the price. We were up a few goals. We want to keep good habits. We don’t want to let other teams get momentum.”

Nonetheless, the second-year coach is happy with a good win over a team that earlier in the week he was suggesting might be the best in the OUA West Division – though they head into Saturday’s rematch with a less-than-impressive 2-3-0 record.

It’s not that the Gryphons didn’t have any chances, peppering LU goalie Alex Dupuis with 41 shots, including a decisive 18-2 margin in the third period alone.

It wasn’t totally unexpected, Scherban said.

“If you look through Guelph’s boxscores last year and this year, they’re a team that usually out-shoots their opponents. They do a good job of that and they don’t usually give up too many shots. It’s not a big concern. We scored five goals, which is a nice little reminder that our guys are capable of scoring. Hopefully they remember that scoring doesn’t come easy and you have to pay a price to score.”

That’s just what the Wolves did in building a 2-0 first period lead.

Jordan Smith, held off the score sheet all season, stole the puck from Guelph’s rookie defender Mike McInerney and blasted a slapshot that easily beat starter Cody St. Jacques at 2:19 of the opening period, before most of the season-high 3,338 fans took their seats at Fort William Gardens.

Andy Hyvarinen doubled the lead with slightly more than six minutes to play in the first, moments after Dupuis stopped Cale Jeffries in a one-on-one situation at the other end of the rink. Adam Sergerie grabbed the rebound and fed the puck to Hyvarinen, who broke free on St. Jacques and fired a wrist shot home.

Timothy Priamo, on a feed from Thunder Bay’s Justin Gvora, pulled the Gryphons to within one on the power play, the goal coming 45 seconds into the second, but that was all Dupuis would allow.

Kris Hogg restored the two-goal lead at 6:32, and Sergerie and Pierre-Marc Guilbault rounded out the scoring before the period ended.

Hogg said it’s a much better feeling skating away with the victory.

“Last weekend was a big disappointment in our season, but it’s early. It’s good that it’s happening now and not in February. You could see we wanted to have a really good start. Guelph is going to be one of the top teams in the league and we wanted to come out and show them that in our rink we don’t get pushed around,” Hogg said.

“Obviously you saw by that third period that we may have let up with the score, and tomorrow we have to bring it like we did in the first two periods.”

Guelph coach Shawn Camp simply said the second period was the Gryphons downfall.

“We scored a power-play goal in the second to pull ourselves right back into the game. The fourth goal was a backbreaker for us. We never recovered from it and we lost momentum and we really struggled through the rest of that period,” Camp said.

By the third, there just wasn’t enough time or quality chances to go around. Camp replaced St. Jacques with Andrew Loverlock to start the final stanza. The former Sudbury Wolves netminder stopped both shots he face.

Game notes: Forward Brennan Menard and defenceman Mike Thibert were healthy scratches. Thibert has yet to dress in OUA play ... The Wolves will start Dupuis in nets in Saturday’s 7:30 p.m. rematch. It will be his third straight start between the pipes.

First period
Scoring: 1. Lakehead, Smith 1 (Hogg, Hyvarinen) 2:19. 2. Lakehead, Hyvarinen 1 (Sergerie, Dupuis) 13:34. Penalties: Macdonald GUE (holding) 5:26,Wilkins LAK (interference) 8:56, Quesnele LAK (slashing) 18:46, Gale GUE (unsportsmanlike conduct), Smith LAK (cross checking, unsportsmanlike) 20:00.

Second period
Scoring: 3. Guelph, Priamo 1 (Martin, Gvora) 0:45 pp. 4. Lakehead, Hogg 1 (Anilane, Gamache) 6:32. 5. Lakehead, Sergerie 1 (Caria McDonald)10:34. 6. Lakehead, Guilbault 1 (Caria, Sergerie) 18:32. Penalties: MacDonald GUE (cross checking), Merritt GUE, Quesnele LAK (unsportsmanlike conduct) 2:13.

Third period
Scoring: None. Penalties: Smith LAK (cross checking) 10:42, Belan GUE  (slashing), Sagert LAK (unsportsmanlike conduct) 11:25

Game Data – SOG – Guelph 11-12-18-41 Lakehead 9-10-2-21; Power plays (goals-chances): Guelph (1-4), Lakehead (0-2); Goaltenders – Guelph: Cody St. Jacques, Andrew Loverock (0:00 third), Lakehead: Alex Dupuis; A: 3,338.