Box Score Late in the second period on Friday night, Waterloo Warriors forward
Matt Kennedy (Oro Medonte) took a vicious slash that sent him to the dressing room cradling his wrist.
Late in the third period, he made sure the whole rink knew his wrist was just fine.
Kennedy rifled home the eventual game-winning goal with less than eight minutes to play, and the Warriors erased four different one-goal deficits en route to a 6-5 win over the Lakehead Thunderwolves at the Columbia Icefield Arena on Friday night.
Justin Larson (Buckhorn) and
Chris Chappell (Pickering) each pitched in with a goal and two assists for the Warriors, who move to 2-0 in the young season. Mitch Hammond had three assists and Kelin Ainsworth added a goal and two helpers for the visiting Thunderwolves, who dropped their first contest of the regular season after going winless in four exhibition games.
Mike Morrison (Hamilton) earned his second win in as many nights for the Warriors, turning aside 22 shots for the win. Jeff Bosch took the loss in goal for the Thunderwoles, making 36 saves.
After Cody Alcock opened the scoring for Lakehead, Waterloo's
Mike Moffat (Waterloo) evened things with his first career CIS goal in the final minute of the first period. The celebration was short-lived though, as Ainsworth converted from the slot with just nine ticks on the clock, sending the visitors to the dressing room ahead 2-1 after 20 minutes.
The second period saw physical play turn nasty, as 43 penalty minutes were assessed – including a five-minute head-checking major to Lakehead's Mike Quesnele, who was also tossed from the game after a dangerous-looking check on
Brett Mackie (Whitby). Larson and Chappell both cashed power play goals in the middle frame, and Waterloo edged ahead 4-3 after two periods.
The Wolves responded early in the third, as Keith Grondin and Jake Wright scored goals just 2:55 apart to put Lakehead back in front 5-4. But just past the mid-way point of the period,
Jeff Einhorn (Red Deer)'s point shot off a faceoff got through traffic and behind Bosch to square the score up at 5-5. Then, with a power play in its waning seconds, Kennedy dropped to one knee to take a Larson feed and fire a one-timer top shelf for the game-winning goal.
After wrapping up four points in their first weekend of regular season play, the Warriors will now head south for an exhibition game against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish on Sunday evening. Their next OUA action is on Friday, October 10, when they host the defending Queen's Cup champion Windsor Lancers at the Columbia Icefield Arena. Puck drop is slated for 7:30.
Notes: The Warriors were 2-for-9 on the man advantage, while Lakehead went 1-for-6…Warriors forward
Riley Sonnenburg (Cambridge) had two assists for the second straight game…The Thunderwolves lead for a total of 35:45, while the Warriors only lead for a total of 10:39.
