The York University Lions men's hockey team picked up their first win of 2018 on home ice Friday night against the Lakehead Thunderwolves. The win did not come easy as the Lions let a third period lead slip away, but they came away with a 5-4 shootout victory.
 
Despite the relatively high scores for both teams, there surprisingly were no goals scored in the first period. Scoring picked up in the second, beginning with a goal by rookie Ben Verrall, assisted by Derek Sheppard and Kyle Campbell. It was his first career goal.
 
Midway through the frame, the Thunderwolves took control of the puck and scored pair of goals just 39 seconds apart. These came from Brennan Dubchak and Patrick Murphy, both assisted by Scott Gall, to give Lakehead a 2-1 lead.
 
Their lead was short-lived, however, as the Lions countered again just 1:10 after Lakehead's second goal, this time scored by Stefano Pezzetta.
 
This wasn't the end of the Lions' action as they scored another two goals in the final seven minutes of the period and just 47 seconds apart, and led 4-2 at the end of the second period. Rookie Adam Marsh, who just joined the team in January, netted both for the first two goals of his U SPORTS career. Providing the assists on all the goals were Alex Mowbray, Sal Filice, Josh LaFrance, Shayne Rover and Justin Bean.
 
The Thunderwolves tied the score 4-4 in the third period. Sam Schutt (assisted by Dillon Donnelly and Jake Ringeutte) scored in the first two minutes of play, and Ringeutte went on to score his own goal (assisted by Murphy and Dubchak) with 30 seconds left on the clock to steal a point for his team.
 
When overtime solved nothing, Sheppard scored the lone goal in the shootout to earn the extra point for his team.
 
This win boosts the Lions to a 12-7-1 season record and they sit in fourth place in the OUA East Division. They will play for their second victory of the weekend on Saturday night when they host the Western Mustangs at Canlan Ice Sports in a game beginning at 7pm.