OUA M-HOCKEY ROUNDUP: NO. 10 THUNDERWOLVES, REDMEN, STINGERS DRAW FIRST BLOOD

THUNDER BAY, Ont. - Everybody knew that the first round OUA playoff series between the Lakehead Thunderwolves and Waterloo Warriors would provide fans with close, exciting hockey, however, not many experts would have predicted exactly how close and exciting the opening game of the series ended up being at the Fort William Gardens in Thunder Bay, Ont.

Wednesday's game, the first of the best-of-three playoff series between the two teams, saw the Wolves narrowly defeat the Warriors 5-4 in the second overtime period in a game that featured hard hits, end-to-end rushes, and great goaltending to match the equally impressive scoring opportunities.

With the win, the Thunderwolves take a 1-0 lead in the series, putting the Warriors in the tough position of winning the next two games in the best-of-three series in order to continue their quest for the Queen's Cup.

Lakehead's offence broke the deadlock midway through the first, with junior forward, and the team's regular season leading scorer, Brock McPherson (Brampton, Ont.) beating Waterloo netminder Pier Pelletier (Saint-Louis-du-Ha! Ha!, Que.) on the power play. Midway through the second, McPherson struck again, giving the Thunderwolves a 2-0 lead on a goal assisted by defenseman Andy Zulyniak (Winnipeg, Man.) and forward Dan Speer (Thunder Bay, Ont.), who also assisted on McPherson's first tally.

The Warriors were unable to get much going offensively in the first, with the Thunderwolves out-shooting their counterparts by a margin of 17-2 through one. If not for the sensational play of Pelletier between the pipes, the game surely could have been lost early on for Waterloo.

Midway through the second, the Warriors began to take control of the play, first beating Lakehead goaltender Chris Whitley (Oshawa, Ont.) on the power play goal scored by captain Jordan Brenner (Waterloo, Ont.), then, just 1:01 later, senior forward Dave Philpott (Windsor, Ont.) would convert on a shot assisted by Brandon Mulholland (Newmarket, Ont.) and Mark Hartman (Lebret, Sask.), evening the score at 2-2 with one period left in regulation.

The third period opened with Waterloo continuing their dominance, as sophomore sensation Chris Ray (Kelowna, B.C.) beat Whitley with a laser of a shot just 6:26 into the frame, giving the team their first lead of the game. Mulholland would pick up his second assist of the game on the goal, while forward Sean Roche (Ottawa, Ont.) would nab the other helper.

Less than three minutes later, Lakehead captain Andrew Brown (Bancroft, Ont.) evened the game up at 3-3, ripping a shot top-shelf past the Waterloo goalie just six seconds after leaving the penalty box. Thunder Bay native Andy Hyvarinen, playing in his first playoff game for the Wolves, would give the team a 4-3 advantage less than a minute later, with assists going to McPherson and junior forward Mark Soares (Burnaby, B.C.).

With 1:57 remaining in the game, Brenner was sent to the box for a two-minute infraction, seemingly giving the Wolves a victory as they would have a man advantage until the end of the game; if they did not score before then. However, with just 9.6 seconds remaining in regulation, senior forward Doug Spooner (Toronto, Ont.) burned the Wolves with a shorthanded goal to tie the game up at 4-4, bringing the contest into overtime.

Neither team was able to break the deadlock in the first 10-minute overtime period, however, a scary moment occurred on the ice. Warriors forward Sean Roche (Ottawa, Ont.), who was chasing the puck behind the net, was up-ended, leaving the Warrior player lying motionless on the ice for some time. After a lengthy delay, Roche was taken from the arena on a stretcher to the hospital in Thunder Bay.

The Wolves were given several good scoring chances in the first 20 minute overtime, including a Soares penalty shot stopped by Pelletier, as well as 5-on-3 power play in which the Waterloo keeper stood his ground and kept the scored knotted at 4-4.

Unfortunately for Pelletier, the Warriors couldn't contain the Wolves forever, and sophomore defenseman Ryan Baird (Thunder Bay, Ont.) was able to finally end the game 14:05 into the second overtime by knocking home a McPherson rebound. With the assist on the game winning goal, McPherson finished the game with two goals and two assists to his credit, showing how dynamic the big forward is offensively for the Thunderwolves.

Whitley made 39 saves in the contest, including stopping several key scoring chances to keep his team in the game. Across the rink, Pelletier stopped 56 shots that came his way, standing on his head for much of the game and doing almost everything a goaltender could be expected to do.

Speer, who is usually called upon in tough situations due to his talented playmaking ability, left the game early due to illness. The team will no doubt be hoping he can return for the rest of the series to help bolster their talented offensive unit.

The Thunderwolves power play went 1-of-11 in the game, while Waterloo bettered that mark with a 1-of-7 record when up a man.

Lakehead head coach Don McKee said it was a very hard earned win.

"Well it was definitely a battle right from the drop of the first puck and I think we controlled the first period but couldn't finish. Full credit goes to Waterloo as they fought hard and came back twice to tie the game. Whitley made some big saves for us tonight and Pelletier was unbelievable for them. We felt confident that we could out-skate them in the overtime and Ryan Baird got a big goal for himself that I'm sure he'll remember for a long time."

Source: Thunderwolves Athletics

Photo Credit: Mike Lavoie

MCGILL 5, OTTAWA 1

MONTREAL, Que. - Rookie Alexandre Picard-Hooper (Boucherville, Que.), scored once and set up the game-winner as McGill dumped Ottawa 5-1 to open their OUA Eastern Conference best-of-three quarterfinal series in men's hockey at McConnell Arena on Wednesday.

It was McGill's fifth playoff win in six games against the Gee-Gees, dating back the 2005 post-season.

McGill outshot Ottawa 37-23, including a lopsided 15-2 margin in the opening period.

The Redmen jumped into a 3-0 lead in the first on goals by Picard-Hooper at 5:08, senior Sam Bloom (Toronto, Ont.) at 14:02 and defenceman Yan Turcotte (Laval, Que.) at 19:06.

"We wanted to have a good start after a slow start in our last game in Ottawa," said head coach Martin Raymond. "It allowed us to take control of the game. We just need to fine tune that so we are a little more consistent throughout the whole game. We know Ottawa well enough to expect a much tougher game on Friday."

Dan McDonald (New Liskeard, Ont.) replied for the Gee-Gees in the middle period but McGill bounced back with a pair of unanswered third period markers from Marc-Andre Dorion, a rookie rearguard from St. Hubert, Que., and co-captain Eric L'Italien (Ste. Foy, Que.) who was playing for the first time since suffering a lower body injury on Jan. 31 and missed five games.

Freshman netminder Kevin Desfossés (Beauport, Que.) earned his first CIS playoff victory and improved to 7-2-0 overall since joining the club early last month. Gee-Gees goalie Riley Whitlock (Calgary, Alta.) was credited with 32 saves in a losing cause.

McGill's power play connected on 3-of-8 chances, ending an 0-for-9 slump, including 0-of-7 against Ottawa last Saturday.

Source: Redmen Athletics

CONCORDIA 6, CARLETON 3

MONTREAL, Que. - The Concordia Stingers defeated the Carleton Ravens 6-3 in Game 1 of the best-of-three OUA Eastern Conference quarterfinal men's hockey game at Montreal on Wednesday. Ravens need victory in Game 2 at Carleton on Friday night to stay alive in the series.

The Ravens started off taking the majority of play to Concordia. Concordia would open the scoring at the eight minute mark as Jared Cipparone (Tecumseh, Ont.) beat Concordia's goaltender Maxime Joyal (Châteauguay, Que.) to give the visitors an early lead. Ryan Medal (Ruthven, Ont.) and Ian Greene (Ottawa, Ont.) earned the assists on Carleton's goal.

The Stingers tied the game at the 19th minute as Mike Baslyk (Montreal, Que.) found the back of the net to send both teams into the first intermission tied at one.

In the second period, while the play was even and both teams had chances. It would be Concordia scoring twice at the 15th and 18th minutes to go into the second intermission with a 3-1 lead. Simon-Pierre Sauvé (Châteauguay, Que.) and Nicolas Lafontaine (Gatineau, Que.) got the goals for Concordia, with Lafontaine's coming short handed. The Ravens outshot Concordia 10-8 in the middle frame but could not beat Joyal. Ravens goaltender Alex Archibald (Ottawa, Ont.) stopped 16 of 19 Stinger shots through two periods.

In the third, the Stingers would score twice more, including a penalty shot by Marc-Andre Rizk (Montreal, Que.), at the 10-minute mark.

Carleton's Andrew Self (Peterborough, Ont.) scored the Ravens second goal nine minutes into the final period, with the lone assist going to Brandon MacLean (Burlington, Ont.).

Ravens captain Andrew Gibbons (Oshawa, Ont.) made the game a little more interesting by scoring his first post-season goal, with 90 seconds remaining on the power play, with assists going to MacLean and Francis Walker (St. Eustache, Que.). Carleton was 1-of-8 on the power play.

Lafontaine added an empty net goal with under 30 seconds remaining to clinch the first game of this three game quarterfinal.

The Ravens outshot the Stingers 31-29 for the game.

Source: Stingers Athletics