NORTH BAY, Ont. – Just call Colin Van Den Hurk Captain Clutch.
The Lakehead Thunderwolves defenceman scored 2:07 into overtime on Friday night, giving his team their only lead of the night when it mattered most, delivering a 4-3 win over the host Nipissing Lakers, completing a two-game sweep of the series, the win coming a day after LU edged the Lakers in a shootout.
It’s the third game-winning goal of the season for Van Den Hurk, who has four goals in 2023-24, the T-Wolves improving to 6-4-1 and a tie for third in the OUA West with the Lakers.
The Thunderwolves needed some late heroics from Keighan Gerrie, who sent the game to overtime with a goal on Nipissing goaltender Zach Roy with 2:46 to go in regulation. It was the third time in the contest that Lakehead battled back to tie the score.
Charles Farmer opened the scoring 35 seconds into the game for Nipissing, beating LU netminder Max Wright for the only goal of the opening period.
Dylan Massie evened things up at 6:32 of the second, but Kyle Foreman gave the Lakers back the lead exactly six minutes later and Nipissing led 2-1 after 40 minutes.
Josh Van Unen tie things up again at 8:05 of the third, but Elias Lieffers potted his second of the season at the 10:47 mark, the Lakers going up 3-2.
Lakehead outshot Nipissing 37-30 on the night.
The Thunderwolves take on York and Concordia on the road next weekend and return home to face UQTR and McGill on Nov. 24 and Nov. 25.
