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Warrior netminder Keaton Hartigan (Kitchener, Ont.) stopped all 27 shots faced, and Kyle Schwende (Kitchener, Ont.) scored two first period goals to life the Warriors to a 5-0 game one victory over Lakehead in the best-of-three OUA west quarter-finals.
The win was Hartigan's second career playoff victory with the Warriors and his first career playoff shutout. Thunderwolves goalie Alex Dupuis was busy in his two periods of action giving up four goals on 32 shots.
The Thunderwolves had a chance to take an early game one lead with Waterloo getting themselves into penalty trouble. Penalties by Jarrett Schnurr (Waterloo, Ont.) and Aaron Dileo (Waterloo, Ont.) gave Lakehead a 5-on-3 advantage with the T-Wolves unable to take control of the game as Hartigan made two big saves to keep the game locked at 0's. Hartigan slid across the crease to rob Ryan McDonald who had the wide open net but did not get all he wanted on the shot.
The Warriors would take a 1-0 lead five minutes later on a power play of their own. With Ray quarter-backing the powerplay, he would slide a perfect pass to Kyle Sonnenburg (Waterloo, Ont.) who fired a one timer off the back boards with the puck bouncing out to Schwende who made no mistake to put Waterloo up by one.
Schwende would notch his second of the game six minutes later on a similar play which saw Schwende all alone on the doorstep following a nice set up by Ray and Sonnenburg. Schwende's first attempt on the backhand was spoiled by Dupuis but he made no mistake following up on his own rebound to put Waterloo up by two heading into the second frame.
The Warriors would extend their lead only 47 seconds into the second period on the powerplay. Ray once again made a perfect pass out to a streaking Tyler Moir (Calgary, Alta.) who one-timed the shot between the wickets of Dupuis. Steve Whitely (Petrolia, Ont.) got the second assist on the play sending Ray up ice down the far wing.
Following a Kriss Hogg tripping penalty for Lakehead, Waterloo would once again show their patience on the powerplay with Andy Smith (Rosetown/) finding an open Whitely on the point whose shot found the open late and Kurt Thorner (St. Thomas) jumped all over the rebound putting it past Dupuis as he fell to the ice.
With Dupuis pulled for Kyle Moir in the third period, Waterloo would add one more goal by Blake Chartier (Winnipeg) and Hartigan would do the rest to give Waterloo a big 5-0 win and key opening game 1 victory.
Game two is set for Friday, February 18 at the Fort William Gardens arena in Thunder Bay. The game can be seen live on the Streaming Sports Network. Click here to access the live feed at 7:30 pm.
