THUNDER BAY – Joe Mack was the overtime hero for the Lakehead Thunderwolves on Saturday night.
The LU forward beat York goaltender Carter Serhyenko at 2:40 of the extra frame, sending 1,932 fans at Fort William Gardens home happy, delivering a 3-2 win that secured a weekend sweep for the Wolves, their third win in four outings to start the OUA men's hockey season.
For a second straight night the T-Wolves built a 2-0 lead, only to have the Lions bounce back and tie things up. But for the second straight night, the Wolve didn’t let a little adversity get them down.
Geoff Dempster started the offence rolling with 72 seconds left in the opening period, his second of the season giving Lakehead a 1-0 lead at the break.
Rookie Keighan Gerrie, a former 100-point scorer in the SIJHL, notched the first goal of his OUA career eight minutes into the second to double the LU lead.
But a last-minute breakdown in the middle stanza led to a tie game, Brendan McCarthy and Lucas Theriault, with his third goal of the weekend, evening things up with goals 30 seconds apart.
Lakehead poured things on in the third, out-shooting York 19-9, but couldn’t find the back of the net, neither team scoring to send the contest to overtime.
Max Wright made 26 saves for the Thunderwolves, while the outgunned Lions goaltender Serhyenko was pummelled with 50 shots on the night, only three getting by him.
Lakehead travels to Guelph, Waterloo and Laurier next weekend, starting on Thursday night against the Gryphons.
