THUNDER BAY – Sometimes a loss is as good as a win.
It was on Friday night for the Lakehead Thunderwolves, who fell 4-3 in overtime to the visting Waterloo Warriors, but squeaked into the OUA West playoffs by virtue of the single point they picked up by forcing the extra frame.
The Wolves, who led 2-1 heading into the third, found themselves down a goal after Jacob Cascagnette beat Brock Aiken with 3:19 to go in regulation.
Josh Laframboise wasn't about to let Lakehead's playoff hopes rest on the fate of Saturday's regular-season finale.
The third-year forward ripped the puck off the post and into the net with 1:49 to play, the power-play goal evening the score at three.
When the buzzer rang signalling the end of the third period, it meant the Thunderwolves are back in the playoffs after a one-year absence.
It's all that matters, said Laframboise, who leads Lakehead with 16 goals, the most on the team since Ryan McDonald potted 17 in 2010-11.
“Obviously you don't play for the one point, you want to play for the win. But at the end of the day we're going to be playing for more meaningful hockey,” Laframboise said.
The win moved the Thunderwolves into seventh place in the OUA West, setting up a potential date with No. 2 Ryerson in the playoff's opening round.
But Lakehead (12-12-3), with a win in Saturday's rematch against the Warriors and losses by Brock and Laurier, could still wind up as high as fifth.
For now, Laframboise isn't worried about where they finish and who'll they'll play. That'll work itself out on Saturday.
“We've got one more game tomorrow and we can use that as momentum going into next week. It shows the kind of character we have on this team. We battled through a lot of adversity throughout the year,” Laframboise said.
LU forward Daniel Del Paggio, who banged home a rebound to give the Wolves a 2-1 lead midway through the second, after Tomas Soustal fired the puck off Trevor Martin's post, said it could have been a cleaner effort, but they got the job done.
“It's a little alarming we gave up the lead, to be honest. It seems like we have trouble playing with the lead. We actually seem like we're better when we're coming from behind,” Del Paggio said. “But at the end of the day it was a character job by our players to come back and seal a playoff spot. It was a gutsy effort, but we did it.”
It was the Warriors who struck first, Owen Brunell cutting through a pair of LU defenders before ringing it off the post and behind Brock Aiken, subbing for an injured Nic Renyard, less than three minute's into the Fort William Gardens contest.
Jordan King tied things up for LU with 2:37 left in the first, bashing home a rebound at Martin's feet.
Defenceman Jack Scanlan evened the score at 11:20 of the third, after King had blocked a pair of Waterloo shots. Five minutes later Jacob Cascagnette gave the Warriors the lead.
“They were pressing hard. It was their final push of the year, obviously,” Aiken said.
It just wasn't quite enough.
“Three minutes left we were winning and we've just got to hold on,” said Waterloo coach Brian Bourque. “Unfortunately they just buried one. It's very disappointing, very emotional for the guys being a couple minutes away from tomorrow's game meaning something.”
Puck drop on Saturday is 7 p.m.
FIRST PERIOD
Scoring: 1.Waterloo, Burnell 4 (Radke, Siddall) 2:29. 2. Lakehead, King 9 (Kuczek, Williams) 18:42 pp. Penalties: Bechtold WAT (tripping) 17:23.
SECOND PERIOD
Scoring: 2. Lakehead, Del Paggio 11 (Soustal) 11:16. Penalties: Pawelczyk WAT (holding) 8:30.
THIRD PERIOD
Scoring: 4. Waterloo, Scanlan 10 (Bechtold, Cascagnette) 11:20. 5. Waterloo, Cascagnette 3 (Bechtold, Siddall) 16:41. 6. Lakehead, Laframboise 16 (Del Paggio, Auger) 18:11. Penalties: Dempster LAK (cross checking) 7:10, Nicoll WAT (interfernce) 17:46, Fryer LAK (slashing) 19:21.
OVERTIME
Scoring: 7. Waterloo, Bechtold 6 (Siddall) 3:57. Penalties: None.
GAME DATA – SOG – Waterloo 11-7-14-2-34, Lakehead 14-17-7-0-38; Power plays (goals-chances) – Waterloo (0-2), Lakehead (2-3); Goaltenders – Waterloo: Trevor Martin, Lakehead: Brock Aiken; A: 2,043.
