THUNDER BAY, ONT – Griffen Fox scored three points, including an empty-net goal, as the Lakehead University Thunderwolves surprised visiting McGill with a 5-3 victory in OUA men's hockey before a near-sellout crowd of 2,833 at Fort Williams Gardens, Saturday.
 
Billed as the annual "Teddy Bear Toss" for charity, the contest featured 82 minutes in penalties, including 62 to the visitors, who had entered the game as the third lowest penalized team in the 19-member OUA conference.

"We had some good opportunities and despite the (five) goals against, we had the bulk of the scoring chances," said McGill head coach David Urquhart, who was without the services of sniper Brandon Frattaroli, serving an automatic one-game suspension.

"It's a tough environment and was an emotional game. We were controlling the pace... but the story of our game was discipline and we took three consecutive penalties in the third period when we were down a goal. Being in the (penalty) box... killed our momentum and the flow on the bench."

McGill was 0-for-1 on the power-play, while Lakehead went 1-for-5. After seven games this season, the 'Wolves are 4-for-29 at home with the man-advantage, compared to the visiting teams, who are a combined 2-for-11.

The Redbirds had a 32-25 edge in shots, including a 26-14 margin after two periods. Despite that, the score was knotted at 1-1 after the opening stanza and Lakehead led 4-2 after two. McGill narrowed the gap to 4-3 when defenceman Taylor Ford connected just 66 seconds into the third period but then ran into penalty trouble.
 
Ford, the team captain from St. Lazare, Que., now has two career goals in 138 games overall for McGill, including 103 regular season contests.

Jack Miles initiated the scoring for the 'Wolves at the 1:43 mark of the first period and the game was delayed for the next six minutes to clear the ice after some 2,000 stuffed animals were tossed.
 
Eric Uba evened the count for McGill at 7:03 with his team-leading ninth of the season. He also added an assist and now sits third among the team leading scorers with 16 points in 14 OUA contests. The other McGillian inscribed on the scoresheet was sophomore forward Mikisiw Awashish who registered his second marker of the season.
 
Rounding out the scoring for Lakehead was forward Tyler Ho along with defencemen Colin Van Den Hurk and Ed McNeil.
 
Lakehead goalie Max Wright saved 29 of 32 shots for the win, while McGill's Alexis Shank saved 20 of 24 shots and took the loss.

This was the first meeting between these teams since a 7-5 Thunderbirds victory at McConnell Arena on Oct. 20, 2018. McGill's lifetime record against Lakehead is now 7-9-1  since they first met in 2004.

The Thunderwolves improved to fourth place in the OUA West with an 8-6-1 record. they will play at Toronto Metropolitan (9-5-0) on Dec. 1.

It was a costly loss for the Redbirds, who slipped from third place to fifth in the highly competitive nine-team OUA East Division, despite a superb 9-4-1 record. If McGill wins its two games in hand, the team will be tied with first-place Queen's (11-4-1). The Gaels are slated to visit McConnell Arena on Dec. 1 at 7 p.m. McGill has won their only rendezvous this season and  five straight against their longtime foes from Kingston, in a rivalry that began 131-years ago, dating back to 1892. McGill leads the all-time series with a 135-56-2 overall record.
 
SCORING SUMMARY
 
OUA STATS & STANDINGS
 
SOURCE:
Earl Zukerman
Sports Information Officer
McGill University Athletics & Recreation
514-983-7012 (cell)
www.mcgillathletics.ca
earl.zukerman@mcgill.ca