Box Score After three straight overtime or shootout victories, it looked like the Waterloo Warriors were headed for another extra time effort in a huge game with the Lakehead Thunderwolves. But Lakehead forward Cody Alcock had other plans.

Alcock scored the decisive goal with just 33 seconds left in regulation, as the Thunderwolves came back from a 3-1 deficit to defeat the Warriors 4-3 in the first game of a weekend doubleheader on Friday night at the Columbia Icefield Arena.

The Warriors got goals from Nick Halagian (St. Catharines), Joey Champigny (East Angus), and Michael Morgan (Scarborough), as they built a 3-1 lead through the first half of the game. But Lakehead's big guns brought them all the way back to a victory – Alcock scored twice, while Carson Dubchak added three assists for the Thunderwolves.

The win vaulted the Wolves (11-12-2) past Waterloo (10-12-3) for 7^th in the OUA West division, as both teams battle for a playoff spot in the season's final weeks. Despite the loss, the Warriors inched closer to securing a playoff spot with Western's loss to Concordia – the Warriors stay five points clear of the Mustangs, with three games to play.

Mike Morrison (Hamilton) took the defeat in Waterloo's net, turning aside 21 shots. Meanwhile, Lakehead's Devin Green made a number of highlight-reel stops in the victory, as he made 27 saves on the night.

The Warriors drew first blood in the first period when Halagian took a Michael Siddall (St. Mary's) feed and one-timed a rocket past Green to make it 1-0 after the first period. Intensity picked up in the second period, and so, too, did the scoring – the teams exchanged two goals each in the back-and-forth middle frame, as Waterloo escaped with a 3-2 lead heading into the third.

The Thunderwolves found the equalizer at 7:27 of the third, when Billy Jenkins converted on a Dubchak feed in front to make it 3-3. After killing a controversial late penalty late in the third, it looked like the Warriors would push the game to overtime – that is, until the puck found its way to Alcock in the high slot. The veteran rifled a wrister that nicked Morrison's pad, but it found twine anyway, giving the visitors the 4-3 win.

The two teams will square off for round two of the weekend doubleheader on Saturday afternoon, February 4. Puck drop is slated for 4pm from the Columbia Icefield Arena.