THUNDER BAY – Malte Hasselgren can be a magician on the ice, at times.
He waved his magic wand just when the Lakehead Thunderwolves needed him most on Saturday night.
Forced to overtime by the Brock Badgers, who scored a pair of third-period goals to erased Lakehead’s 2-0 lead through two periods, the T-Wolves were struggling with puck possession in the three-on-three overtime period.
The Badgers had nearly put the game away second earlier, Holden Rogers stymied on a breakaway by LU’s standout netminder, Christian Cicigoi.
Hasselgren, fresh off his trek overseas for the World University Games, where he played for Team Sweden, picked up the puck near his own blueline, made a move on a Brock defender and raced for open ice, letting loose a shot that found the back of the net behind Badgers goaltender Smauel Vyletelka, the overtime winner delivering a much-needed 3-2 victory.
“I got the play back a little bit around our blueline and started skating with it. I didn’t really have any options, I was just trying to get past my guy for a two-on-one. The D was kind of picking up (Justin) Paul on the other post. I was just trying to go far post and it went in,” Hasselgren said.
“It was awesome. I needed it.”
The two points were huge, he added.
The win helped Lakehead keep pace with the rest of the top teams in the OUA West, with Toronto Metropolitan, Toronto and Windsor all winning.
The top two teams in each conference earn first-round byes. Only the top six teams in the OUA West make the postseason.
Lakehead, with four games to play, now has a six-point cushion on Guelph and Brock, tied for seventh. They’re also tied with Toronto for second place, with a game in hand.
“Points are huge. Every weekend we’re trying to get points. Every game seems to be tough. I think our schedule for the next four – going to UQTR and McGill is arguably the toughest road trip of the season, followed up by Western,” said LU coach Andrew Wilkins, winning for the 101st time behind the T-Wolves bench.
“Not to get too far ahead of ourselves, we’ve got to try to find points.”
Tyler Turpin, whose parents raced the clock to get to Fort William Gardens in time to watch his final regular-season game with the Thunderwolves, one of eight players honoured before the senior’s night game, just wanted to find the back of the net once before departing the team.
He got his wish.
Turpin picked up the puck deep in enemy territory and fired a shot that beat the Badgers goaltender on his short side, giving LU a 2-0 lead with less than seven minutes to go in the second.
“That was actually my first goal ever as a defenceman, the Mississauga native said.
“Honestly, it means the world to me and to do it in front of this great crowd, it was awesome.”
He’d take the win over the goal, but he’s glad to get both.
“We’ve got a tough road ahead of us. We’re going to have a long week ahead of us, but we’re very excited.”
Nicolas DeGrazia opened the scoring for Lakehead just past the midway point of the first, thanks to some great hustle by Hasselgren and Richard Whittaker, who both kept the puck from escaping the Badgers zone. Hasselgren fired a pass back to DeGrazia in the left circle and a split second later, the puck was in the net.
Ryan Thompson finally solved Cicigoi five minutes in the third, firing a high hard shot from just outside the slot that eluded the LU goaltender. Zack Stringer evened things up moments after Brock killed off a four-minute double minor to Jonah Boria, called for slew-footing.
Claw marks: If Lakehead has a home playoff date prior to Feb. 26, the team will have to relocate to the Tournament Centre, the Gardens off limits until after the Scotties Tournament of Hearts wraps up.
FIRST PERIOD
Scoring: 1. Lakehead, DeGrazia (Hasselgren, R. Whittaker) 10:02. Penalties: None.
SECOND PERIOD
Scoring: 2. Lakehead, Turpin 1 (Crane) 13:49. Penalties: N. Massie LAK (tripping) 8:01, N. Massie LAK (slashing) 11:03.
THIRD PERIOD
Scoring: 3. Brock, Thompson (Stepien, Boria) 4:48. 4. Brock, Stringer (Hoffrogge, Rogers) 17:13. Penalties: Boria LAK (slew-footing double-minor) 12:42.
OVERTIME
Scoring: 5. Lakehead, Hasselgren (unassisted) 3:44. Penalties: None
GAME DATA – SOG – Brock 7-9-10-0-26-, Lakehead 12-12-12-2-38; Power plays (goals-chances) – Brock (0-0), Lakehead (0-1); Goaltenders – Brock: Samuel Vyletelka, Lakehead: Christian Cicigoi; A: 2,861.
