There was no miracle on Miles Street on Saturday night.
However, there might have been an awakening.
The Lakehead Thunderwolves battled back from four goals down after 20 minutes, took a 5-4 lead in the third, but couldn’t hang on, falling 6-5 in double overtime to the visiting Toronto Varsity Blues in front of 2,046 fans at Fort William Gardens.
Rookie Wolves forward Billy Jenkins, who scored twice and added a pair of assists, said he’d trade all four points for the win.
“We need wins bad this time of year. We thought we had it. In overtime there was an empty net and I thought we had it again.
"Unfortunately that’s the kind of way it’s been going. We’ve just got to get back up,” said Jenkins, who missed the past two weekends with an injury and has five goals and four assists in 10 games.
After 20 minutes, the fans booing and the team looking like it had hit rock bottom, it would have been easy for the Thunderwolves (1-10-3) to give up.
It didn’t happen.
The team is trying to stay positive and there are some good signs, Jenkins said.
“I think the big thing lately is we’ve been scoring goals,” he said. “At the start of the year we’d be averaging one, two goals a game. We’re starting to put pucks in the net and we’ve got to tighten up defensively.”
Easier said than done with No. 1 goalie Jeff Bosch going down after Dean Klomp punched the puck past him 6:27 after the opening puck drop, the Varsity Blues up 2-0.
Replacement Justin McDonald, seeing his first action of the regular season, let in two more before the period ended, but settled down as the Wolves slowly clawed their way back to even ice, stopping 22 of 26 shots the rest of the way.
“I’ve been here three years and the same thing has happened all three years, a hamstring injury,” said LU coach Bill McDonald. “I don’t know how long, but usually hamstrings are pretty long.”
The goaltending dilemma aside, McDonald said there was a lot to like about the way his team responded after the disastrous first.
“It sucks to lose,” he said. “I feel bad for them guys in there because they did, after the first period, put in a good effort for everybody. You still don’t get the W, but I really think in the back of their minds they learned something. They didn’t quit, they fought back and were within an eyelash of winning the hockey game.”
The comeback began in earnest early in the second, Jenkins beating Toronto goalie Brett Willows in close to make it 4-1. Garick Gray cut the lead to two before the middle stanza was in the books, scoring from a sharp angle to the left of the Toronto net.
After defenceman Jake Ringuette stopped a pair of scoring chances in the Lakehead crease, Kelin Ainsworth pulled the Wolves to within a goal, scoring on the backhand at the 11-minute mark of the second.
Matt Alexander, filling in for an injured Linden Springer, tied it with just under six minutes to go, his first as a Thunderwolf, with Jenkins putting Lakehead in front for the first time on the power play at 15:23.
But the lead was short-lived.
Toronto’s Patrick Marsh skated around McDonald with less than two minutes to go in regulation, netting his third of the night to send the game to overtime.
Cody Alcock had a chance to put it away on the wraparound, but a Toronto stick got in the way. Alexander had the best chance to win it, only to have his shot ring off the post.
The winner came in double overtime after a quick whistle that led to a faceoff in the Thunderwolves zone, Charlie Connell stepping in from the boards and roofing it past McDonald.
Lakehead slipped nine points out of eighth place with the loss. Toronto (6-7-2) is in a four-way tie for fifth.
FIRST PERIOD
Scoring: 1. Toronto, Finch 8 Campagna) 1:33. 2. Toronto, Klomp 4 (Wallace, Heide) 6:27. 3. Toronto, Marsh 7 (Cleverley, Campagna) 15:20. 4. Toronto, Marsh 8 (Connolly, Finch) 17:45 pp. Penalties: Sefton LAK (cross checking) 4:07, Kirkup TOR (hooking) 7:52, Maw LAK (tripping) 16:43.
SECOND PERIOD
Scoring: 5. Lakehead, Jenkins 4 (Butler, Anton) 5:40 pp. 6. Lakehead, Gray 2 (Jenkins, Ainsworth) 17:49. Penalties: Cleverley TOR (holding) 0:28, Campagna TOR (slashing) 4:01, Kirkup TOR (cross checking) 7:27, Ringuette LAK (roughing), Knight TOR (slashing) 15:10, Hanson TOR (holding the stick, unsportsmanlike conduct) 18:24, Sefton LAK (elbowing) 19:40.
THIRD PERIOD
Scoring: 7. Lakehead, Ainsworth 2 (Jenkins) 11:00. 8. Lakehead, Alexander 1 (C. Dubchak, Faust) 14:01. 9. Lakehead, Jenkins 5 (Sefton, Kunz) 15:23 pp. 10. Toronto, Marsh 9 (Finch, Campagna) 18:27. Penalties: Heide TOR (cross checking) 4:05, Maw LAK (interference) 7:15, Lindsay TOR (elbowing) 14:21.
OVERTIME
Scoring: No scoring. Penalties: None.
DOUBLE OVERTIME
Scoring: Toronto, Connell 4 (Finch, Campagna) 3:55. Penalties: None
GAME DATA – SOG – Toronto 9-6-10-2-4-31, Lakehead 11-18-12-3-4-48; Power plays (goals-chances) – Toronto (1-4), Lakehead (2-8); Goaltenders – Toronto: Brett Willows, Lakehead: Jeff Bosch (five shots, three saves), Justin McDonald (6:33, first period); A: 2,046.