THUNDER BAY – The quest for the Queen’s Cup is alive and well.
Griffen Fox scored 3:05 into the first overtime period on Friday night, earning the Lakehead Thunderwolves a 2-1 home-ice win over the Windsor Lancers in front of a sold-out Fort William Gardens crowd, evening the best-of-three OUA West final at a game apiece.
The two teams will settle the series on Saturday night in Thunder Bay, the winner to host next Saturday’s Queen’s Cup final against the winner of the OUA East championship, as well as claiming a spot at the University Cup later this month in Charlottetown, P.E.I.
The loser will play a one-game bronze-medal match against the loser of that series, with the OUA’s third and final berth at nationals on the line.
“It’s nice, but we got another game tomorrow, said Fox, the goal his second of the postseason.
“We have to be ready to go tomorrow.”
Fox, who led the Thunderwolves with 27 regular-season points, said the Wolves shook off the nerves pretty early on, even though the Lancers scored in the first four minutes for the second straight contest, Mason Kohn beating Christian Cicigoi, the puck tricking through his pads, his defence unable to clear the puck from in front of his net.
“I think we were all pretty confident, playing in front of this crowd. At home we’re super confident. You can’t really let the nerves get to you,” Fox said. “We trust (Cicigoi). He played unbelievable, and the rest of the boys did too.
“We just know we have to keep it even-keel at all times, whether we go up or they go up, it doesn’t really matter.”
It was a back-and-forth game from the start, said Lakehead coach Andrew Wilkins.
“Obviously our guys stepped up after a bit of a sloppy first. I thought the emotions were running a little high. But Griff is clutch. He’s been great. I think there are a bunch of other guys who could have been in the same spot, but Griff’s been unreal for us,” Wilkins said.
“This is huge. This is what we’re here for. We want to win this series and move on to the next one. It’s exciting and to get that OT win in front of the home crowd was awesome.”
Windsor’s first-period lead lasted all of 2:31, a far cry from Wednesday night when the Lancers opened the scoring 2:32 into the contest and Nathan Torchia stood tall the rest of the night, not allowing a goal in leading his team to a series-opening 4-0 win.
Joe Mack was in the right place at the right time, a loose puck in the Windsor crease daring either team to make some magic happen. After what seemed to be an eternity, Mack pounced, stuffing it past Torchia to even the score.
Fox had his first chance to give LU the lead in the opening minute of the second, but was stopped by Torchia. Troy Williams had a point-blank shot a few minutes later, but was turned aside. Cicigoi’s biggest stop came with five minutes to go in the second, as he calmly stoned Windsor’s Brady Hinz on a breakaway. Lakehead’s Olivier Pouliot followed with a partial break of his own, with no success.
The T-Wolves held Windsor to just five shots in the third, but were unable to break through with the go-ahead goal, despite plenty of opportunities to bury the puck in the Lancers net.
Overtime didn’t take long to solve this one – just don’t ask Fox how it happened.
“I don’t even remember. (Kevin) Stiles made a play to me. It was kind of a broken play. I just turned around and ripped it and it went it. I kind of just blacked out a bit,” Fox said.
Game 3 starts at 7 p.m. on Saturday night. Tickets are on sale at 9:30 a.m.
Claw marks: Lakehead rookie Keighan Gerrie left the game with an apparent shoulder injury and did not return. Kyle Auger returned to the lineup after missing the past two games with an illness, but defenceman Colin Van Den Hurk missed Friday's night's game with a lower-body injury.
