In desperate need for a victory to snap a five-game losing streak, the Waterloo Warriors put together what was arguably their most complete effort of the season against the visiting Lakehead Thunderwolves. A trio of dazzling individual efforts certainly helped, too.
Cole Murphy (Cole Harbour/Pictou County Crushers, MJHL) and Jack Scanlan (Penetanguishene/Stratford Warriors, GOJHL) scored highlight-reel goals, and Trevor Martin (Ardrossan/Calgary Hitmen, WHL) made 29 saves in his best start of the season, as the Warriors rebounded from a Friday night loss to the Brock Badgers with a 3-2 victory over the Thunderwolves at the Columbia Icefield Arena on Saturday night.
Murphy and Scanlan each notched a gorgeous goal and added an assist, while Nick Chyzowski (Kamloops/Kamloops Blazers, WHL) also scored for the Warriors, who improve to 3-8-3. Tomas Soustal and Jordan Larson potted goals for the Thunderwolves, while Nic Renyard stopped 25 shots in defeat for visiting Lakehead.
The back-and-forth contest started off in favour of the hosts, when Chyzowski zipped a wrister past Renyard's glove hand just over three minutes into the game. But less than two minutes after that, Dylan Butler slid a gorgeous pass right onto Soustal's blade in the Crease, and the wolves evened up the score at 1-1 after 20 minutes.
Larson's perfectly-placed shot went bar-down past Martin at the 13:48 mark of the second period, but the Wolves' lead was summarily erased in a goal-of-the-year candidate just 53 seconds later: Scanlan scooped up a bouncing puck in the neutral zone, blew past the Lakehead defender, and went top-shelf on the backhand in tight to equal the score at 2-2 heading into the third period.
The teams exchanged minors early in the third period, but Waterloo cashed on their abbreviated power play when Murphy, fresh out of the box himself, walked in front and patiently slid home the go-ahead goal. The black and gold were able to make their 3-2 advantage hold up, thanks to some key saves from Martin, including a ten-bell right pad save on Lakehead's Daniel Del Paggio late in the frame.
The victory was sorely needed, considering how the weekend started for the Warriors – Waterloo dropped a 5-2 decision to the eighth-ranked Badgers in St. Catharine's on Friday night. Michael Morgan (Scarborough/North York Rangers, OJHL) and Cam Nicoll (Loretto/Newmarket Hurricanes, OJHL) scored for the Warriors, but Brock scored the game's first four goals – including two in a span of 25 seconds – to skate away with the victory.
Julian Sime (Mississauga/North Bay Battalion, OHL) kicked away 33 shots in defeat for the Warriors, while Logan Thompson equalled him with 33 saves in the Brock net.
The Warriors will now look to make it two wins in a row in a rare mid-week game, as they face the Laurier Golden Hawks on Wednesday, November 21. Puck drop for the special school day game is slated for 11am from the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium.
