THUNDER BAY, Ont. - After a tough 3-2 overtime loss on Friday night, the Golden Hawks returned to the ice last night with a clear response in mind and delivered a 7-5 win over the Lakehead Thunderwolves in a critical weekend.
For their second game back from the break, Laurier and Lakehead put on a show with 12 combined penalties and goals. Melancon earned two of the Golden Hawks' seven goals, leaving him tied for second in OUA leading goalscorers.
Laurier opened the scoring early when Ty Petrou finished a play set up by Max-Antoine Melancon and Bryce Sutherland.
Lakehead went on to score three unanswered goals in the first, two of which were on the power play and one shorthanded. Control shifted back to the Golden Hawks in the second when Ethan Szabo scored on the rush with helpers from Caleb Petrie and Justin O'Donnell.
Less than 10 minutes later, they struck again. Max-Antoine Melancon tied the game 3-3 with a perfect stick in front of the net on the power play. Josh Lehto managed to take back the lead for Lakehead with a shorthanded goal shortly after, ending the second period 4-3.
Rookie David Paglia set the tone early with a gritty goal, assisted by Lucas Chard and Thomas Lenart. Chard earned his own goal four minutes later through Lakeheads back door with the help of Travis Verbeek.
Caden Drury scored the third goal of the period just 10:29 in, making it 5-5. Melancon earned his second of the night quickly, with Petrou recording the assist and Thomas Lenart sealing the win with an empty net goal at 19:43, with another assist from Petrou and Verbeek.
Head coach and manager of men's hockey operations Kevin Forrest was extremely proud of his team, saying, "They sure bounced back for ya. And then some."
Laurier seemed to just want it more tonight, in what Forrest referred to as typically the toughest weekend of the year.
UP NEXT
Laurier is back on home ice January 15th to face off against the Guelph Gryphons. Puck drop is at 7:00pm at the Waterloo Memorial Recreational Complex. Tickets are available here.
