A bad case of the penalties proved costly for the Lakehead Thunderwolves.
Spotted a 2-0 first-period lead Friday night by the OUA East-leading and fifth-ranked University of Quebec Trois-Rivieres Patriotes, the Wolves made two quick trips to the box, surrendered their advantage in less than three minutes and were overpowered the rest of the way, falling 7-3 at Fort William Gardens.
"They don't need many chances," said a disappointed Lakehead coach Bill McDonald.
"They can move it and they can shoot it. You can see what they can do."
Jumping ahead by two goals early made the loss even more difficult to swallow, the second-year bench boss said. Especially the way it happened.
"We want to play physical, but we want to walk the fine line of not going to the penalty box. There were a couple of calls there that, I don't know," McDonald said.
"You get off to that start, we had momentum and we take the penalty and the worst thing that could happen happened. They scored right away so everybody starts thinking. They get a couple of more and you start going on your heels."
Fifth-year veteran Ryan Magill said that's hockey sometimes. It wasn't for lack of effort, he said.
"Maybe we got too complacent after we got those two quick ones. It's one of those things. You're not really sure. It just seemed there was about five minutes or so where we couldn't really control the tide. They were pushing pretty hard and give credit to them. They're a pretty good team and they rallied back after a 2-0 start on the road, which is tough to do," said Magill, who finished with a goal and an assist on the night.
The start was everything the Thunderwolves could hope for against one of the top team in the OUA, if not all of Canada.
Nathan Cull, at 6:13 of the first, and E.J. Faust scored exactly 90 seconds apart, catching the Patriotes and goaltender Guillaume Nadeau off guard.
But the visiting UQTR squad quickly found its rhythm, Marc-Olivier Mimar beating a shaky Jeff Bosch on the power play to start the offensive onslaught at the 8:33 mark.
Jeremy Beaudry netted the equalizer 2:01 later, again with the man advantage, and the Patriotes took the lead for good on the first of two Carlo-Antoine Deslile goals at the 11:32 mark, less than a minute after they’d tied the score. Delisle added another tally at 14:46.
Magill, who ripped a shot from the slot past Nadeau after some nifty work by Cull behind the UQTR net, drew the Wolves to within a goal four minutes into the second. But once again the Patriotes had the answer, captain Tommy Tremblay sweeping wide behind Bosch and depositing the puck in a wide-open Lakehead net.
McDonald was quick to deflect the blame from his goalie, saying while there might be one or two he'd like back, he wasn't getting a whole lot of help.
Mimar added his second of the night before the middle stanza came to an end. Billy Lacasse ended the Patriotes attack, scoring with 2:43 to go in the third.
The loss snapped Lakehead’s three-game winning streak and dropped their record to 8-10-2. UQTR improved to 15-2-2 and took over sole possession of first place in their division, after Carleton lost 2-0 to McGill.
Lakehead outshot the Patriotes 36-27, but could only put three pucks past UQTR goalie Guillaume Nadeau, who earned the victory.
FIRST PERIOD
Scoring: 1. Lakehead, Cull 2 (D. Quesnele, Magill) 6:13. 2. Lakehead, Faust 2 (Sefton, M. Quesnele) 7:43. 3. UQTR, Mimar 12 (Beaudry, Verret) 8:33 pp. 4. UQTR, Beaudry, 2 (Langlois, Giroux) 10:34 pp. 5. UQTR, Delisle 4 (Plouffe, Quevillon) 11:32, UQTR Delisle 5 (Tremblay, Langlois) 14:46. Penalties: B. Dubchak LAK (interference) 1:32, C. Dubchak LAK (checking to the head, misconduct) 8:13, Carrick LAK (hooking) 10:11,Wright LAK (hooking) 16:23, Plouffe UQTR (holding the stick) 19:32.
SECOND PERIOD
Scoring: 7. Lakehead, Magill 7 (Cull, D. Quesnele) 4:00. 8. UQTR, Tremblay 8 (Asselin, Delisle) 5:06. 9. UQTR, Beaudry 3 () 14:46. Penalties: Lacasse UQTR (tripping) 11:44, Boudreau UQTR (rouging) 18:35, Hotte LAK (charging) 18:52, Alcock LAK, Quevillon UQTR (misconduct) 20:00.
THIRD PERIOD
Scoring: 10. Lacasse (asselin) 17:17. Penalties: Plouffe UQTR (tripping) 9:08, D. Quesnele, Delisle UQTR (roughing, unsportsmanlike conduct) 16:19, Gilbert LAK (tripping) 18:11.
GAME DATA – SOG – UQTR 11-17-9-27, Lakehead 10-14-12-36; Power plays (goals-chances) – UQTR (2-5), Lakehead (0-4); Goaltenders – UQTR: Guillaume Nadeau, Lakehead: Jeff Bosch; A: 2,538.
