THUNDER BAY – In Jeff Richards' day, 5-2 wins were commonplace.
For the current edition of the Lakehead Thunderwolves, five goals are a bit of an offensive explosion, the team scoring just twice last weekend, splitting a pair on the road against Windsor.
Richards, the T-Wolves all-time leading scorer who led the team to the 2006 national championship game, was honoured by the OUA team on Friday night, the day before he'll be inducted onto Lakehead Athletics' wall-of-fame.
Whether or not the ceremony inspired the Wolves is up for debate.
What's not is the fact that Lakehead put on a dominating display of hockey in front of 1,980 Fort William Gardens fans, downing the York Lions 5-2 to pick up their second win in three outings to start the 2022-23 campaign.
“I thought our guys were good,” said LU coach Andrew Wilkins. “Even when it was 2-2, (goaltender Christian Cicigoi) had to make a couple good saves. He played really good. It was one of those nights when it felt like it was going to go our way and I thought our guys had confidence and really good communication on the bench.”
Lakehead jumped in front 2-0 with a pair of first-period goals, Geoff Dempster and Joe Mack scoring less than two minutes apart on York goaltender Cole Ceci, the younger brother of Edmonton Oilers defenceman Cody Ceci.
But the Lions (1-2-0), got one back 11 seconds later, Lucas Theriault surprising Cigigoi and LU settled for a 2-1 lead after 20 minutes.
Theriault added his second of the night two minutes into the second to tie the score, but the Wolves kept pressing and eventually it paid off, Stephen Fox roofing a high hard wrist shot from the high slot, the puck sailing over Ceci’s glove-side shoulder.
“It was a turnover in our own end and (Greg Smith) was able to pick that one off and went for as skate. I was trailing a bit behind and luckily enough he set a bit of a pick and dropped it to me. I just got into a position where their D was screening their goaltender a little bit and there was an opening,” Fox said.
A little luck never hurt either, Wilkins said.
Just shy of the eight-minute mark of the third Troy Williams took possession of the puck near the left-hand boards, spun and fired a wild shot toward the net that hit the stick of a Lions player and caught Ceci napping.
Up 4-2 and Ceci on the bench with more than six minutes to play, Josh Van Unen scored into the empty net from another impossible angle, all but putting the game out of reach.
“Sometimes you just throw it on the net and it seemed to go our way tonight,” Wilkins said.
Lakehead outshot the Lions 48-35 on the night.
The two teams will wrap up their two-game set on Saturday night at the Gardens, puck drop scheduled for 7 p.m.
FIRST PERIOD
Scoring: 1. Lakehead, Dempster 1 (Van Den Hurk) 11:40. 2. Lakehead, Mack 1 (Blackwell) 13:26. 3. York, Theriault 1 (Gilhula), Mabey) 13:37. Penalties: Beamin YRK (holding) 1:37, Gihula YRK (high sticking) 9:39, Pouliot YRK (roughing) 12:27, Wojciechowski LAK (slashing), D'Agostino YRK (high sticking) 19:45.
SECOND PERIOD
Scoring: 4. York, Theriault 2 (Evanish) 2:05. 5. Lakehead, S. Fox 1 (Smith) 14:41. Penalties: Stiles LAK (tripping) 2:57, Gervais LAK (unsportsmanlike conduct) 5:06, Breault YRK (roughing) 19:55.
THIRD PERIOD
Scoring: 6. Lakehead, Williams (unassisted) 7:46. 7. Lakehead, Van Unen (G. Fox, Williams) 13:26 en. Penalties: McCarthy YRK (slashing) 4:12, Pouliot LAK (interference) 15:08.
GAME DATA – SOG – York 13-13-9-35, Lakehead: 16-15-17-48; Power plays (goals-chances) – York (0-3), Lakehead (0-8); Goaltenders – York: Cole Ceci, Lakehead: Christian Cicigoi. A: 1,980.
