Badgers feel the Thunder

The Brock University Men's Hockey team (13-12-1) were streaking towards the playoffs, having won six of their last eight games since the New Year. That momentum may have cooled off abruptly, however, with two tough losses on Feb. 3-4.

The Badgers took on the Lakehead Thunderwolves (17-9-0) on Feb. 3 in their final regular season home game of the year at the Seymour-Hannah Centre. The last home stand represented something very special for six Badger seniors. The Brock Athletic Department Website, gobadgers.ca, reported that this will be the last regular season home game for Steve Miller (Thunder Bay, ON), Isaac Smeltzer (Estevan, SK), Ryan Allen (Fort McMurray, AB), Derek Brochu (Welland, ON) and Kurt Jory (Brandon, MB). Though only Allen is in his fifth and final year of OUA eligibility, many will all graduating in April after spending the last four years in the red and white. As a group, this means that this season is their last chance at a championship. Dan Dooley (Saint John, NB), a fourth year Senior was also among the players honoured via mid-game announcement.

In addition to closing out the regular season home schedule, St. Catharines Mayor Brian McMullen and MPP Jim Bradley were on hand amongst others for the Lakehead game to unveil the St. Catharines Sports Wall of Fame. The Wall of Fame was previously showcased at the St. Catharines Museum, but now has a home at the Seymour-Hannah Centre.

Formalities aside, however, there was still a game to be played. Lakehead struck first, thanks to an ultra-aggressive penalty kill that forced a Brock turnover and led Andrew Wilkins (Pickering, ON) in alone on Jory. Wilkins put on a beautiful deke that left a wide open net for his eighth goal of the season.

Brock quickly evened the score just over a minute later as Derek Brochu took a slap shot that produced a rebound right on the stick of Jordan Gignac (Hamilton, ON) who made no mistake.

The two teams traded goals in the third period as well, with Brock taking a lead 7:34 into the final frame. C.J. Dickson (Thorold, ON) lifted a beautiful saucer pass over the defenders and onto the stick of Kaine Geldart (Kingston, ON), who out-waited a sprawled goalie and roofed it.

The lead was short-lived, as just over two minutes later the Thunderwolves forced a turnover at the Brock blueline and raced in two-on-one. Jake Carrick (Stouffville, ON) scored the game-tying goal from a nice pass by Keith Grondin (Winnipeg, MB).    

As time ticked away and overtime seemed inevitable, the Thunderwolves stunned the Badgers. A breakdown in the defensive zone led to a chaotic sequence where the puck came to the point and a wrist shot by Ryan McDonald (Prince Albert, SK) beat a screened Jory for the game-winner with less than a minute to play.

"They came in carrying a five game losing streak, so we knew it was going to be a tense night for sure. It really had a playoff type feel, much like last week," said Head Coach Murray Nystrom.

The playoffs are still guaranteed for the Badgers, but wins are important to ensure the team secures home-ice advantage for the first round. The Badgers are 10-3-1 at home and 3-9-0 on the road.

"We've just got to keep playing like we have been the last seven, eight, or nine games," said Brochu. "We've picked up our level of intensity tremendously since Christmas, and if we just carry that forward we can beat a lot of teams."

"We've got to battle back, don't get down when we're down in the game and just keep going hard like we've been doing," said Miller.

The next night the Badgers travelled to Windsor to take on the Lancers (13-12-1). A win for Brock would have guaranteed the Lancers could not pass the Badgers in the standings, and would have vaulted Brock into fourth place.

The teams traded goals in the first with Dickson and Brochu scoring for the Badgers, but Brock allowed another short-handed goal at the end of the period, ending the frame tied 2-2. After that it was all Windsor. The Lancers scored three unanswered goals to win the game 5-2.

Brock is currently tied for fifth place, but are only one point out of fourth, which would guarantee the team home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs. The lowest the Badgers can finish in their division is seventh, which would mean a first round playoff match-up against either Lakehead or Waterloo.

The Badgers will finish the regular season with two games on the road against the Lakehead Feb. 10-11.