Thomas Frazee hasn't been setting the world on fire with his goal-scoring ability since joining the Wolves at Christmastime.
But he showed on Saturday night he knows what to do with the puck in the clutch. The North Vancouver native one-timed a snap shot past Kurt Jory 7:34 into the third period, just his third goal of the season, but certainly his most important.
It proved to be the winner as Lakehead hung on, after blowing an earlier three-goal lead, to complete the weekend sweep of the Brock Badgers with a 5-4 triumph.
More importantly it sends the Thunderwolves into the playoffs on a modest two-game winning streak, ready to take on the Guelph Gryphons on the road on Wednesday night.
However, Frazee said, nearly giving the game away wasn't exactly how they wanted to win.
"Obviously it wasn't something we wanted to do," he said, lingering on the ice post-game to turn over his game-worn third jersey to a lucky fan who won it in a silent auction.
"I thought for a little bit in the second period we sat back a little bit and didn't play as well as we should have. But at the end of the day we got two points and that's all that matters."
Still, he'll take the sweep, which gave the Wolves a season-ending 19-9-0 record, good for second place in the OUA West.
"We knew it was huge to get two big wins and make sure we had lots of momentum going into the playoffs."
Mitch Maunu, playing in his final regular season game at Fort William Gardens in a Thunderwolves uniform – and scoring his fourth of the year on breakaway pass from Ryan Magill that put LU ahead 2-1 midway through the first – said it wasn't a pretty win.
"But you know what, a win's a win no matter what from here on out, no matter how you do it. It doesn't need to be pretty and we showed that tonight. We had a little bit of a letdown, but yeah, we battled back and that's what playoff games are going to be like.
"It's just going to be a grind, right to the end."
For the second straight night the Badgers, who finished 13-14-1 and will play Waterloo in the opening round of the playoffs, scored first when Thomas Stajan deflected a Kaine Geldart pass behind a surprised Alex Dupuis 4:19 into the contest.
Ryan McDonald tied it less than two minutes later, pouncing on a juicy rebound and knocking past Jory. Maunu, not normally a rushing defenceman, found himself ahead of the play on the Wolves second goal, a dandy three-way passing play that started with Victor Anilane making a great outlet pass to McGill at the Badgers blue-line.
"It was great," Maunu said. "I'm not known for my scoring. I was actually surprised it went in. I thought he stopped it. But it felt great to do that in my final game here in the regular season.
"I just saw a hole and I like to jump though the seams every once in awhile and I got the puck, a great play by Magill, and luckily it went in."
Three minutes into the second and Mike Quesnele ripped a shot through traffic that eluded Jory, then with the Wolves down a man, Andrew Wilkins broke free on Jory, made a nifty deke on the Badgers netminder and it was 4-1 with half the game in the books.
Slowly, but surely, Brock , who out-shot the Wolves 41-29, including 19-6 in the third, began to crawl back into the contest.
Daniel Tanel notched his first of the season to pull the Badgers to within a pair, the first of two power play goals Brock would score on the night.
Less than two minutes later, at the 18:30 mark of the second, Dylan MacEachern hit the post, scooped up the rebound and the lead was trimmed to one, with 20 minutes left to play.
Ryan Allen tied it on the power play at the three-minute mark of the third, but Frazee took matters into his own hands at that point.
"(Keith) Grondin and (Jake) Carrick did a great job getting it in on the forecheck and Carrick made a great pass out front and I was lucky enough to beat the goalie," Frazee said.
Mike Hammond, with a sharp-angled shot at the goal line, finished the evening's offence, beating Jory for the ninth of his freshman campaign.
Claw marks: Forward Devin Welsh was also honoured before the game as a fifth-year senior ... Lakehead scratches include Luke Maw, Riley McIntosh, Jadran Beljo, Jason Grecica, Adam Sergerie and third-string goalie Josh Mrakic ... The playoff matchups are set. Western, losers of its final two games, will play Laurier. Brock and Waterloo and York and Windsor are the other first-round series. In the OUA East, McGill plays Queen's, UQTR tangles with Ryerson, Nipissing draws Ottawa and Toronto and Carleton will hook up ... Matt Caria finished 16th in the OUA scoring race, with 32 points in 21 games ... Wilkins's shorthanded marker was his third of the season, second in the OUA behind McGill's Maxime Langelier-Parent ... Hammond finished third among rookie scorers with 27 points, four fewer than Thunder Bay's Zach Harnden.
Follow Leith Dunick on Twitter: @LeithDunick
FIRST PERIOD
Scoring: 1. Brock, Stajan 12 (Geldart, Jones) 4:19. 2. Lakehead, McDonald 8 (Caria, Frazee) 6:03. 3. Lakehead, Maunu 4 (Magill, Anilane) 10:30. Penalties: Schram BRO (holding), McDonald LAK (unsportsmanlike conduct) 2:03, Bonawitz BRO (holding) 7:12, Schram BRO (cross checking, roughing), MacEachern BRO, Hammond LAK, Menard LAK (roughing) 14:02, Caria LAK (interference) 15:28, Smeltzer BRO (unsportsmanlike conduct) 20:00.
SECOND PERIOD
Scoring: 3. Lakehead, Quesnele 9 (Fillman, Dupuis) 3:04. 4. Lakehead, Wilkins 10 (unassisted) 10:25 sh. 5. Brock, Tanel 1 (Stajan) 16:38 pp. 7. Brock, MacEachern (K. Geldart, A. Geldart) 18:30. Penalties: Maunu LAK (cross checking) 3:00, Boudreau BRO (high sticking) 5:20, Bench minor LAK (too many men) 9:28, Allen BRO, Carrick LAK (unsportsmanlike conduct) 13:19, Boudreau BRO (slashing) 14:14. Wilkins LAK (cross checking, misconduct) 16:12
THIRD PERIOD
Scoring: 8. Brock, Allen 6 (Smeltzer, Brochu) 3:00 pp. 9. Lakehead, Frazee (Carrick, Grondin) 7:26. 10. Lakehead, Hammond () 18:03. Penalties: Menard LAK (hooking) 1:37, Smeltzer BRO (high sticking), Frazee LAK (elbowing) 14:11.
GAME DATA – SOG – Brock 7-15-19-41, Lakehead 11-12-6-29; Power plays (goals-chances) – Brock (2-5) Lakehead (0-5); Goaltenders – Brock: Kurt Jory, Lakehead: Alex Dupuis; A: 2,850.
