THUNDER BAY – Either the York Lions are a vastly improved team or the Lakehead Thunderwolves could be in for a long hockey season.
The Lions on Thursday night stormed into Fort William Gardens, the first of eight straight games the T-Wolves will play on home ice to open the 2021-22 campaign, and rolled over their hosts, handing them a 6-2 defeat.
If there was a positive to take out of the loss, it's the number of chances the Wolves had to put pucks past York goaltender Cole Ceci, the younger brother of Edmonton Oilers defenceman Cody Ceci.
Dylan Massie and Spencer Blackwell each had breakaway chances in the second, but were turned aside.
They were unable to connect on a three-on-one later in the period, and Cole Edwards, who earlier in the contest scored LU's first goal of the season, had a pair of point-blank chances in the third, only to find Ceci standing tall in the Lions net.
“He played the puck well,” said rookie defenceman Colin Van Den Hurk, on Ceci's play between the pipes.
“I just think we didn't get him moving laterally enough that we were able to change some angles on some shots. The chances were there, but we couldn't bury them and so tomorrow we'll have to come back with a better effort."
The Thunderwolves won the battle of the shot-clock, out-shooting the Lions 41-38, including a 13-7 margin in the third.
“I think both teams generated a lot of chances, more chances that we would have liked against,” said Lakehead coach Andrew Wilkins. “I thought we were sloppy defending the rush and in our own zone. I think it came down to us turning the puck over in our own zone, which killed us.
“I thought we were coming on the in third and then another couple of (bad) decisions with puck management that we just have to clean up.”
The Lions, last in the OUA West in 2019-20, opened a 2-0 lead in the first,
Brandon Yeamans struck first, beating Blake Weyrick nine minutes into the contest. Braydon Buziak, who finished with a goal and two helpers, doubled the lead with just 2.5 seconds left in the opening period, banging home a Brandon Browne pass from behind the LU net.
Edwards finally got the Wolves on the board in the second, breaking down the left side of the ice before cutting in front of Ceci and ripping a high hard wrist shot over his shoulder on the York goaltender's glove-hand side for the power-play marker.
But it was the Lions who finished the middle stanza on a high note, Justin Bean and Lucas Theriault finding the back of the Thunderwolves net 63 seconds apart, Bean's coming with the man advantage.
The Wolves just didn't give Weyrick enough support, Wilkins said.
“I look at the opportunities that we gave up and I thought our goaltender didn't really have much of an opportunity. I thought maybe we could have scored some more, but the amount of chances we gave up, that's the way it's going to go.”
After Van Den Hurk netted his first in a Thunderwolves uniform, LU's second power-play goal of the night coming at the 5:45 mark to of the third, it was the Lion's who struck next. Browne scored with 4:40 to go in regulation and Xavier Pouliot finished things off, his first of the season coming at 17:54.
The two teams play again on Friday and Saturday night. Puck drop is 7 p.m. each night.
FIRST PERIOD
Scoring: 1, York, Yeamans 1 (Theriualt) 8:57. 2. York, Buziak 1 (Browne, Evanish) 19:57. Penalties: Evanish YRK (cross checking) 9:37, Mack LAK (slashing) 10:37, King LAK, Buziak YRK (unsportsmanlike conduct) 20:00.
SECOND PERIOD
Scoring: 3. Lakehead, Edwards (Van Den Hurk, Jette) 9:43 pp. 4. York, Bean (Gilhula) 11:29. 5. York, Theriault (unassisted) 12:32. Penalties: Auger LAK (holding) 2:17, Bean YRK (tripping) 8:06. Dempster LAK (slashing) 10:05,
THIRD PERIOD
Scoring: 6. Lakehead, Van Den Hurk 1 (Blackwell, Kuczek) 5:45 pp. 7. York, Browne (Buziak) 15:20. 8. York, Pouliot (Buziak, Sherman) 17:54. Penalties: Pouliot YRK (high sticking) 4:04, Smith LAK (unsportsmanlike conduct) 18:47.
GAME DATA – SOG – York 14-17-7-38, Lakehead 13-15-13-41; Power plays (goals-chances) – York (1-4), Lakehead (2-3); Goaltenders: York: Cole Ceci, Lakehead: Blake Weyrick; A: 1,143.
