LONDON, Ont. – A Sunday loss to the Western Mustangs has dropped the Lakehead Thunderwolves into the No. 5 seed in the OUA West.
The result sets up an opening-round, best-of-three series against the Mustangs, which is scheduled to open on Wednesday night at the Tournament Centre, Fort William Gardens being unavailable because of the Scotties Tournament of Hearts.
A win would have netted the Thunderwolves the No. 3 seed and home-ice advantage. Instead, Game 2 and, if necessary, Game 3, will be staged in London, Ont.
Tyler Turpin staked Lakehead to a 1-0 lead just 1:41 into the matinee contest, which was supposed to be played on Friday, but faced multiple delays because of travel-related issues.
Shane Bulitka tied things up 11 minutes later and Drew Wawrow put the Mustangs ahead for good at 7:55 of the second, the lone goal of the middle frame.
Western’s Eric Van Impe added an insurance marker less than two minutes into the third.
Lakehead’s Josh Van Unen closed the gap with 74 seconds to go in regulation, but the Wolves could not come up with the equalizer to send the game to overtime.
Carson Cherepak made 21 saves in taking the loss between the pipes for LU. Matteo Drobac was good on 29 of 31 shots fired his way by the Thunderwolves.
