The York University Lions men's hockey team defeated the Lakehead Thunderwolves on Saturday evening (Jan. 23) by a score of 3-1 at Canlan Ice Sports.
 
Lions starting goaltender Chris Perugini (King City, Ont.) once again stood on his head, stopping 33 of 34 shots, and shutting the door on countless Thunderwolves scoring chances. After Saturdays win the Lions improve to 13-6-3 and remain in top spot in the OUA West standings, while the Thunderwolves fall to 4-13-4 on the season.
 
The Lions came out hungry in the first period and were firing from all angles on Lakehead goaltender Jeff Bosch, who faced 37 shots on the night. The Lions finally beat Bosch late in the first period when Greg Milner (Watford, Ont.) and Trevor Petersen (Thornhill, Ont.) broke into Lakehead territory and executed a superb tic-tac-toe play that Milner finished to put the Lions up 1-0.
 
The momentum from the first period carried over to the second as the Lions were once again pressuring inside the Thunderwolves blue line. The Lions were rewarded with a power play, and on the odd-man advantage they eventually worked the puck around to the point where Tyler Mort (Keswick, Ont.) fired a laser over the shoulder of Bosch to put the Lions up two.
 
The Lions special teams has been a strength this season as they are ranked third in the OUA for power play efficiency.
 
Just over four minutes after the Mort tally the Thunderwolves got on the scoreboard on a Brennan Dubchak pass through the slot to a slicing Matt Alexander that cut the Lions lead in half.
 
The brief comeback attempt by the Thunderwolves was shut down as Perugini made one big save after another, and in the third period made an incredible desperation save that saw him sprawl out with the glove to secure the lead.
 
Reid Jackman (Etobicoke, Ont.) and Kyle Campbell (Halifax, N.S) put the game on ice in the final minute as they were sent in on a two-on-one and beat Bosch to put the Lions up 3-1.
 
The Lions are back on the ice next Saturday (Jan. 30) when they travel to London, Ont., for a huge match-up to take on the second-place Western Mustangs. Puck drop is set for 4pm at Thompson Arena.