WATERLOO – Two points are two points.
In a division where first and seventh place are separated by just six points, and seventh misses out on a playoff spot, the Lakehead Thunderwolves need every one they can get.
It took a shootout on Friday night, but the T-Wolves took the road and came out victorious, edging the host Waterloo Warriors 3-1 in front of 100 fans at the Columbia Ice Field Arena.
Olivier Pouliot and Richard Whittaker scored the lone goals of the shootout to deliver the win, goaltender Christian Cicigoi coming up big against Waterloo’s Jaxson Murray and Tape Popple, who scored the Warriors first goal of the night at 7:21 of the second, cutting LU’s lead to 2-1 at the time.
Spencer Blackwell and Nicolas De Grazia, with his seventh of the campaign, staked Lakehead to a 2-0 lead, scoring less than three minutes apart in the early stages of the middle stanza.
Adamo Santia sent the game to overtime with a goal at the 19:39 mark of the third and goaltender Mark Onuska on the bench for an extra attacker.
Cicigoi made 39 saves to pick up the win. Onuska was good on 25 of 27 Lakehead shots.
The win moves the Thunderwolves into a three-way tie for second place in the OUA West with Toronto and Windsor.
The T-Wolves (11-6-2) are one points behind the Toronto Metropolitan Bold (12-8-1), but have two games in hand.
Lakehead also has a five-point cushion on seventh-place Brock (8-9-3), with a game in hand.
