THUNDER BAY – Not all 3-1 leads are created equal.
A night after jumping out in front of the University of Quebec Trois Rivieres Patriotes twice by two goals, the Lakehead Thunderwolves turned the trick again on Saturday night against the visiting McGill Redbirds.
Only this time, the lead held.
Unlike the Patriotes, who scored five unanswered goals to double up Lakehead 6-3, the Redbirds only managed to get one back before the Wolves restored a two-goal lead again.
Jack Miles scored the goal that launched a thousand teddy bears, then Tyler Ho and Colin Van Den Hurk tallied three minutes apart in the second to break open a 1-1 tie and the Thunderwolves went on to down McGill 5-3 in their final home game of the opening half of the OUA men’s hockey season.
Ed McNeill, with his first in an LU uniform, and Griffen Fox, into the empty net, also scored for the Thunderwolves.
Eric Uba, Mikisiw Awashish and Taylor Ford had the McGill goals.
Max Wright made 29 stops in net for the Thunderwolves, while Alexis Shank was beaten four times on 24 shots before heading to the bench late for an extra attacker.
The T-Wolves improved to 8-6-1 tied for fourth in the OUA West with Nipissing. Lakehead wraps up the pre-Christmas portion of its schedule next weekend on the road against the Toronto Metropolitan Bold. Their next regular-season home game is Jan. 5 against Queen’s. The T-Wolves also play non-conference home games on Dec. 28 and Dec. 29 against the University of Manitoba.
