LONDON, Ont. – The Lakehead Thunderwolves won, but are not longer in the mix for the No. 2 seed – and a first-round bye – in the OUA West.
The men’s hockey team on Saturday scored the game’s first four goals and they went on to down the Western Mustangs 5-2 on the road.
Justin Paul and Alex Izyk opened the scoring with goals five minutes apart in the first and Nicholas Campbell and Joe Mack scored 2:21 apart in the second to give the T-Wolves a 4-0 lead, all four goals at the expense of Western goaltender Matteo Drobac.
The Mustangs finally solved LU goaltender Christian Cicigoi at 13:14 of the middle stanza, but Ben Badalamenti got it back 1:56 into the third and Lakehead held on for the win, Jacob Santerre cutting the T-Wolves lead again to three with 8:18 to play in regulation.
Lakehead (15-10-2) finish up on Sunday against the Mustangs, a game originally scheduled for Friday afternoon, but delayed by stormy southern Ontario weather.
The Toronto Varsity Blues spoiled the Thunderwolves hopes of a second-place finish edging the Concordia Stingers 6-5 in overtime to maintain a two-point lead over Lakehead. Billy Moskal sent the game to OT with a goal with 17 seconds to go in regulation.
Dylan Wightman won it with his ninth of the season at 2:51 of the extra frame.
Toronto (17-11-0) owns the tiebreaker, which is regulation and overtime wins, leading the T-Wolves 16-13 in the category.
Lakehead can finish anywhere from third to fifth, depending on the results of Sunday’s games.
