Game Summary

The Waterloo men's hockey team dropped their fifth game of the season falling to the Lakehead Thunderwolves 5-1 on Friday night at the Fort Williams Gardens in Thunder Bay.
 
Both teams came out playing a smart game, not wanting to be the first to make a mistake. Lakehead was looking to set a physical tone early on as several players were throwing their body around.

It looked like Lakehead got on the board midway through the first when Trevor Gamache chipped away at a rebound in front of Waterloo netminder Keaton Hartigan (Kitchener/).  According to the home crowd, the puck crossed the goal line but was ultimately waved off by the officials after a short conversation.

Both teams headed to the dressing room for the first intermission knotted at zero's, with Lakehead leading in shots on goal 13-8.

It was a tense second period, with both teams playing a tight, but entertaining game. The 0-0 deadlock lasted until 9:33 of the second, when Lakehead defenseman Chris de la Lande went coast-to-coast, weaving his way though the entire Waterloo team, and rifled the puck over Hartigan's shoulder .  The assists were credited to Thomas Frazee and Lakehead goaltender Alex Dupuis.

Lakehead came out firing in the third period, and Jake Carrick scored his fifth goal of the year just 55 seconds into the final frame on a sneaky shot that found its way through Hartigan's legs, giving Lakehead the 2-0 lead. The assists went to Adam Sergerie and Matt Caria.

The two-goal cushion was short lived, as Waterloo's Chris Ray (Kelowna/) fired a perfectly placed one-timer over Dupuis' shoulder to cut Lakehead's lead to 2-1 at 1:14 of the third.

Lakehead restored its two-goal lead at 6:05 on a beautiful shorthanded effort from Trevor Gamache as he fought off a Waterloo defender, faked backhand, and pulled it around Hartigan.  The unassisted shorthanded marker put Lakehead in front 3-1. The Wolves added another at 16:18 when a Mike Hammond wrist shot deflected off a couple of bodies in front and past Hartigan to increase Lakehead's lead to 4-1.  Assists on the goal were credited to Keith Grondin and Mitch Fillman.

Lakehead's Keith Grondin added one last goal with 32 seconds left in the game off a nifty backhand pass from Hammond, with the other assist credited to Frazee.

Hartigan stopped 37 of 42 shots faced in the loss while Dupuis allowed only one goal on 27 shots to pick up his 12^th win of the season.

The Warriors will look to bounce back with a victory on Saturday in the back end of their double header with the T-Wolves.  Puck drop is set for 7:30pm at the Fort Williams Gardens and the game can be seen live on the Streaming Sports Network (SSN Canada).