WATERLOO, Ont. – All good things must come to an end.
For the Lakehead Thunderwolves, on Saturday night it meant their seven-game winning streak was over, thanks to Sam Rhodes’ overtime tally, delivering a 3-2 home-ice win for the Laurier Golden Hawks.
Still, the Thunderwolves managed to pick up a crucial point by forcing the extra frame and now sit alone in second place in the OUA West at 13-5-3, two points clear of Toronto Metropolitan and just one behind the front-running Windsor Lancers – albeit having played two more games than the team they’re chasing.
It was tough going for the Lakehead offence until the third.
Laurier goaltender Matthew Dunamoor shut the door on the Thunderwolves for 40 minutes, stopping the first 32 shots sent his direction. Patrick Brown had the lone goal until that point, beating Max Wright with Lakehead on the power play at 6:53 of the first.
Cole Edwards, with his first of the year, tied things up three minutes into the second, only for Matthew Zedebee to restore Laurier’s one-goal lead 20 seconds later, his third of the campaign.
Liam Whitaker evened things up again with 3:04 to go in regulation, netting his first as a Thunderwolf to force overtime.
Wright was good on 31 of 34 shots.
Lakehead returns to Fort William Gardens next weekend for games against Guelph on Friday night and Laurier on Saturday.
Claw marks: The postponed game against Windsor from Nov. 25 has been rescheduled for the Gardens on Feb. 9 … Lakehead could clinch a playoff spot on Saturday night.
