Photo by Cole Breiland

Two straight overtime victories has Wolves on the edge of title recognition

Lyle Morissette
Sports Editor

Two shots was all it took—one on Wednesday, one on Friday—for the Wolves to advance to the OUA West finals. They completed what was an alarming two-game overtime sweep over the Guelph Gryphons in last week’s OUA West semifinal clash.
It may sound simple, just two shots, but the shots delivered the victories. What happened in between was nothing short of exhilarating, as the Wolves won both Wednesday’s contest in Guelph, and Friday’s rematch at Fort William Gardens in overtime. Both games involved a constant barrage of back-and-forth action that surely entertained fans.
Even with the posts working against them—the Wolves hit three posts in the first period alone—and a surprisingly goal-deprived Matt Dias, who finally managed to cash in a hat-trick including the overtime game winner, the Wolves persevered in the series clinching affair on Friday night at the Gardens, winning 5-4.
“I like to see my guys rise to the occasion,” said Wolves head coach Joel Scherban.
Dias was even more relieved with finally tickling the twine in the playoffs and seemingly found solace with his, and the team’s, overall performance.
“A hat trick feels great, and the OT winner feels even better. It just finally felt good to be scoring again,” commented Scherban.
After giving up the lead on Wednesday night, the Wolves found themselves on the other side, having to come back from behind twice in the third period on Friday night to send it into the extra session. The last of the Wolves come-from-behind goals came from Scott Dobben with a mere 62 seconds remaining in the third. Dobben’s goal sent it into overtime where Dias penned the concluding chapter by scoring the eventual winner.
Between the iron posts, ‘Wolves goalie Alex Dupuis cemented yet another win for the team and now has won all four of his playoff appearances and is really starting to blossom at the most opportune of times. Lakehead’s other goal came courtesy of Andy Zulyniak and Matt Caria added three assists.
Wednesday’s series opener played out to almost a mirror result, with a very similar ending: the Wolves conquering in overtime. But instead of winning 5-4, the Wolves edged the Gryphons 4-3. Sespite not only being outshot on the night 34-23, they also dropped the ball in the third period, allowing Guelph to climb back into the saddle and send it into overtime.
Yet, the Wolves were undeterred by giving up a 3-1 third period lead and eventually stole back the game with Andy Hyvarinen’s blast in ovetime. Dan Speer, Ryan McDonald, and Caria added the ‘Wolves three regulation goals, and Dupuis backstopped the Wolves to victory once again.
The ‘Wolves now continue their conquest with an OUA West finals matchup against the Western Mustangs. The first game of the best of three series goes this Wednesday at the Fort William Gardens.