THUNDER BAY, ON, Canada- It was deemed the 'Battle of Ontario' by the media outlets and fans alike. And it was a battle indeed between the Thunder Bay Timberwolves and the visiting Hamilton Predators.
If jetlag didn't play apart in Hamilton's slugglish play. It very well should have, as the Preds arrived in Thunder Bay in the late morning of today's game from Stockholm, Sweden where they played the night before.
Rookie centreman, Joe Pavelski opened the scoring in front of another sold out crowd at the Canadian National Gardens. For the first time in a long time, the goal came on the man advantage. "We've had our chances," said Pavelski. "Tonight it seemed like things were finally going our direction."
Hamilton and Thunder Bay exchanged goal for goal for the first six in the game. Then the Predators decided that was enough and added one late in the second period, and another one almost as soon as the Zamboni door closed.
In almost any other game this season, this would've been enough to down the last place Timberwolves.
But Andreas Karlsson brought his club within a goal only three minutes after Hamilton's fifth of the game.
Thunder Bay seemed to pick up their game after that goal. Hamilton started to tire, and the long flight from Sweden began to show and the Wolves ended up outshooting the Preds 17-to-9 in the third.
Rookie, Bill Thomas had probably his best game thus far in his young CCHL career. Thomas evened up the game at 18:49 in the third on another powerplay goal for Thunder Bay. He also finished the game with an astounding eleven shots on goal.
Overtime was not enough to declare a winner. As both teams skated to a 5-5 tie.
"Not a bad game," said Timberwolves head coach, Craig Hartsburg, "but we could've of been alot better. We have a ways to go. But this was definately a positive step forward."
The Timberwolves have the next two days off. They will welcome the boys from Havana to the frozen north on Tuesday.
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