The Brock Badgers men's hockey team handed Lakehead its first home loss of the season on Friday, Nov. 6.
The Badgers held on for a 5-4 victory in front of 3,002 fans at Fort William Gardens in Thunder Bay, Ont., taking down their previous playoff matchup from last season and improving to a 5-1-1 record.
Brock got on the board one minute in when Ryan Johnstone buried a rebound five-hole. Just after killing a penalty, the Badgers made it 2-0 on a point shot deflected in by Tai York. Lakehead held the first period edge in shots, 15-13.
Brock struck 37 seconds into the second frame when Natan Ethier took advantage of a loose puck from a mishandled wraparound, burying it on the backhand to make it 3-0. The Thunderwolves power play unit answered with three power play goals on Brock's third ranked penalty kill, two from Austin Peters and one from Riley Sharun, tying the game 3-3.
With just 43 seconds left in the period, a blocked Brock shot from the point ended up on the stick of Johnstone, giving him the go a head power play goal. The Brock power play was once again showing their strength, sitting at the top of the OUA at 33.3 per cent.
Eric Barnard made it 5-3 five minutes into the third period with a beautiful toe drag finish to clear himself an opening into the back of the net. Peters remained a problem for the Brock defence, completing his hat trick at 14:36 to cut the lead to one, but Brock held on. Ben Bonisteel made 27 saves for the win.
The Badgers wrap up the weekend series Saturday, Nov. 7, in Thunder Bay at 7 p.m. The game can be seen live on OUA.tv.
