OUA West Final: Thunderwolves one game away from hosting Queen's Cup

THUNDER BAY, Ont. - Freshman goalie Alex Dupuis (Thunder Bay, Ont.) stood tall with 34 saves and the No. 7 nationally-ranked Lakehead Thunderwolves men's hockey team took a 1-0 lead in their best-out-of-three OUA West Division final with a 4-1 win over the No. 6 Western Mustangs, Wednesday night at the Fort William Gardens in Thunder Bay, Ont.

The win improved Dupuis' unblemished playoff record to 5-0 while the Thunderwolves remained undefeated all-time in the playoffs at home against Western.

Lakehead got goals from defensemen Ryan Baird (Thunder Bay, Ont.) and Jordan Smith (Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.) while forwards Shandor Alphonso (Orangeville, Ont.) and Kris Hogg (Sicamous, B.C.) also tallied as the 'Wolves and 'Stangs each had 35 shots.

The Mustangs lone goal came off the stick of Kevin Baker on the power play.

Facing a Mustangs team owning home ice advantage for the sixth of six all-time postseason series between the two squads, the 'Wolves came out guns blazing as Baird's finish came only two minutes in off assists from Andy Hyvarinen (Thunder Bay, Ont.) and OUA second team all-star Scott Dobben (Drayton, Ont.).

The lead expanded late in the period when captain Smith charged in from the point and beat Western goalie Keyvan Hunt from the doorstep on assists from Shandor and Matt Caria (Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.).

The fifth-year senior Alphonso added his goal at 13:23 of the second period when a long pass from Pierre-Marc Guilbault (St. Julie, Que.) sprung him on a partial breakaway and he deked around Hunt to score backhanded.

Western made things interesting in the third period when Baker scored at 7:31 on assists from Scott Aarssen and Keaton Turkiewicz but Lakehead hung on as Hogg sealed the deal on a nice finish from Kalvin Sagert (Abbotsford, B.C.) and Dupuis.

The action shifts to London, Ont. for Game 2 on Friday night at 7:30 p.m., and again the following night for Game 3, if necessary.

Source:

Lakehead Thunderwolves