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The Waterloo Warriors earned an opening season series sweep blanking the Lakehead Thunderwolves 3-0 on Friday night in Thunder Bay. Warriors goalie Keaton Hartigan (Kitchener, Ont.) posted his second straight shut out stopping all 35 shots faced while Chris Ray (Kelowna, B.C.) had a two point game two lead their squad to victory.
After a convincing game one win over Lakehead on Wednesday evening at home, Waterloo knew game two would not be easy playing at the always rambunctious Fort William Gardens arena. The black and gold came out with a defensive game plan shutting down the top scorers on the T-Wolves.
Following a scoreless first period which saw Lakehead out shoot Waterloo 8-5, Waterloo got on the board scoring the all important first goal of the game. Josh Schappert (Winnipeg, Man.) picked up a rebound off the shot from Ray and fired it past Lakehead's goalie Alex Dupuis. Dupuis stood on his head the remainder of the period to keep Waterloo's lead at one.
Photo by: Jayson Childs
The third period saw a flurry of action, with Lakehead dominating the Warriors but the T-Wolves were unable to solve Hartigan who was spectacular all game long. Ray scored a late third period goal sniping a short side shot over Dupuis and Cory Fraser (Pictou, N.S.) sealed the 3-0 victory with an empty netter.
The Warriors face the Western Mustangs in the OUA west semifinals starting on Thursday night in London at 7:30 pm. Game two is scheduled for Saturday, February 26 at the CIF Arena in Waterloo at 7:30 pm. If necessary, game three will go on Sunday, again in London at 7:30 pm.
The 3 Stars of the game of were:
1. Keaton Hartigan (Kitchener/), Waterloo
2. Chris Ray (Kelowna/), Waterloo
3. Brock McPherson, Lakehead
