Wolves even series

The Lakehead Thunderwolves will live to see another day.

A mighty second period, that saw the host Wolves score three times to erase a two-goal York Lions advantage, paved the way for an improbable 9-5 triumph, helping Lakehead stave off elimination and evened their best-of-three OUA West quarterfinal at a game apiece.

Impressive, considering the Wolves were staring up at a 2-0 deficit just 200 seconds into the contest, a must-win game for a team facing a potential five-week layoff before they play host to the nation again next month at the Cavendish University Cup.

“We were pretty fortunate to be able to come back the way we did,” said LU captain Jordan Smith, who scored two big goals for the Wolves, pulling them to within one in the second and giving them a two-goal cushion in the third.

“If you go back to the first intermission it was Dan Speer who really got us going. He sent us a great message that we can carry into tomorrow night. I’m not going to tell you what that message was, but we can’t come out tomorrow night like we did tonight.”

Whatever Speer said worked.

Trailing 3-1 after 20 minutes, the Wolves erased the lead in less than nine minutes in the second, and reeled off seven straight goals before York’s Matthew Restoule scored late in the third.

It was just what the Wolves needed, two nights after being stymied by York goalie Dave Davenport, who stopped 52 shots in the Lions 3-2 double OT victory on Wednesday. Davenport was a little less effective as Friday's game wore on, and he left after the Wolves sixth goal.

Smith did not want to face the prospects of a first-round exit, especially on home ice at Fort William Gardens. 

“It’s my fourth year now and I let the guys know that have been around for two, three, four years that we haven’t really done anything in the playoffs. We’re looking to go through the front door this year. That’s our goal and we’re not shy to say that, and it’s just good that we came out with a big win tonight,” Smith said. 

In addition to Smith’s pair and two from Mark Soares, who also had a pair of helpers, Lakehead got singles from Arron Alphonso, Speer, Ryan McDonald, Matt Caria and Brock McPherson, his first marker after a lengthy stint on the injury list nursing an injured shoulder.

Back-up goalie Alex Dupuis, who took over from an ineffective  Kyle Moir after York’s third goal 8:36 into the contest, stopped all 18 of 20 shots to earn the win.

It was a gutsy move on coach Joel Scherban’s part, trusting a rookie netminder who hadn’t started since an 8-3 loss at Western on Jan. 9.

“We’re extremely confidence in Alex. He’s improved more than anyone this year. His work ethic in practice is unbelievable. The last few starts he did have, even though they were over a month ago, he played very well,” Scherban said.

The same can’t be said for Moir, who looked shaky and got little support from his friends on the blue-line before making an early exit.

Jesse Messier beat the Calgary native on a goalmouth scramble 1:34 into the game, and at the 3:20 mark it was Chris Jones, with his second of the playoffs, beating Moir on the short side with a rising wrist shot.

Arron Alphonso connected to cut the York lead in half at 8:17, but just 19 seconds later Jaskirat Gill responded for the Lions, re-establishing the two-goal edge and ending Moir’s night before it really began.

It was all Wolves after that, at least until their 58-shot attack put the game out of reach. It started early in the second.

Scott Dobben raced down the ice, fighting off a York defender before firing a backhand pass to a charging Speer to make it 3-2 at the 4:30 mark of the middle stanza. Then with two York players in the box, Smith and McPherson scored power play goals 20 seconds apart, giving Lakehead its first lead of the series.

Smith made it 5-3 56 seconds into the third and the rout was on.

Jesse Grespan scored York’s final goal with just over three minutes to go.

York coach Jim Wells said his team wanted to come out fast, but it also wanted to finish that way too. It just wasn’t in the cards.

“They’re a good hockey club. You know, going into the third, (down) 4-3 on the road, we’re OK with that,” said Wells, acknowledging the second period took the steam out of their engine. “Obviously we took some penalties and they have some key players, Smith and Caria, who can make things happen. One of the things we did in Toronto real well is we killed their power play, but we weren’t able to do it tonight in their home rink.”

Game 3 goes Saturday night at 7:30 p.m. at the Gardens.

Claw marks: Kris Hogg was awarded the Molson Three Star trophy before the game. Second place went to forward Scott Dobben, while third went to graduating senior Shandor Alphonso ... In other OUA playoff action, Western scored twice in the final five minutes to prevent an upset at the hands of UOIT, adding an empty netter for a 4-2 victory that knotted their series at a game apiece. At Windsor, Waterloo evened their series with the Lancers, scoring a 4-3 triumph. At North Bay, McGill walloped Nipissing 7-2 to earn a series sweep. Elsewhere UQTR was upset 2-1 by Concordia and Carleton edged Queen's to even their series.

FIRST PERIOD
Scoring: 1. York, Messier 1 (Micks, Martello) 1:34. 2. York, Jones 2 (Brooks) 3:20. 3. Lakehead, A. Alphonso 1 (Hyvarinen) 8:17. 4. York, Gill 1 (Cassidy Grespan) 8:36. Penalties: Brand YRK (tripping) 6:16, McDonald LAK (slashing) 16:15.

SECOND PERIOD
Scoring: 5. Lakehead, Speer 1 (Dobben, Soares) 4:30. 6. Lakehead, Smith 1 (Caria, Dias) 8:35 pp. 7. Lakehead, McPherson 1 (Dobben, Hogg) 8:55 pp. Penalties: Harrison YRK (slashing) 7:31, Messier YRK (tripping) 7:44, Caria LAK (double-minor spearing, misconduct) 15:08, Jones YRK, Wilkins LAK (roughing after the whistle) 18:28, Thomson YRK (unsportsmanlike conduct) 18:53.

THIRD PERIOD
Scoring: 8. Lakehead, Smith 2 (Speer, McPherson) 0:56. 9. Lakehead, Soares 1 (S. Alphonso, Speer) 2:49. 10. Lakehead, McDonald 1 (unassisted) 3:57. 11. Lakehead, Soares 2. (Dias, Caria) 12:35. 12. York Restoule 1 (Gill, Henderson) 13:33. 13. Lakehead, Caria 1 (Dias, Soares) 14:28. 14. York Grespan 1 (unassisted) 16:54. Penalties: Thomson YRK (misconduct) 3:57, Micks YOR (slashing), Messier (cross checking), Hyvarinen LAK (double-minor spearing) 14:52, McDonald LAK (misconduct) 15:31, Korte (boarding), A. Alphonso LAK (holding)  19:20.
 
GAME DATA – SOG – York 16-8-5-29, Lakehead 18-22-18-58; Power plays (goals-chances) – York (0-2), Lakehead (2-4); Goaltenders – York: Dave Davenport (43 shots, 37 saves), David Blair (2:49 third), Lakehead: Kyle Moir (nine shots, six saves), Alex Dupuis (8:36 first); A: 2,296.