DAYTON DOMINATES PACK

Canadian National Gardens (Thunder Bay)- What a difference a night makes. After beating the defending CCHL Champion, Spurs in a come-from-behind victory in front of their home crowd. The Thunder Bay Timberwolves played a dud of a contest against the 2006-07 Champion, Dayton Musicmen.
-It took thirteen seconds for the Musicmen to bring the Timberwolves back to earth with a nifty goal from Milan Michalek.
-At 1:22 in the first, it became quite apparent that Dayton was in Thunder Bay to polish up on their goal-scoring abilities when Marian Gaborik went 1-on-1 with Josh Harding. Beating the tender five-hole.
-Seventeen seconds and a Sergei Gonchar lamp lighter later, it became even more apparent that the Timberwolves were not prepared for their opponent. Mats Sundin put the kids of the Lakehead to bed. Making it 4-0 within the first eight minutes of the game.
-Determined not to be shutout in the period though, Radek Dvorak scored a fluke, weak goal over the shoulder of Dayton's Craig Anderson.
-At the 11:34 mark of the first, Dayton's Milan Hejduk wanted to see if his club could also score shorthanded. Taking a hooking penalty in the neutral zone. They would not, and Thunder Bay's defenseman Tom Preissing scored from the right circle off a quick snap shot, beating Anderson just under his glove.
-The second period was far from interesting from a fans perspective. The Timberwolves played a cautious game. Not venturing too deep with the puck and plugging up the neutral zone to keep the game within reach.
-That plan worked for most of the second. But Dayton did finally break through with just over two minutes to go off another Michalek goal.
-While being outskated for most of the game. The Timberwolves came into the third, initially being able to stay with their superior opponent. That was until someone forgot Milan Hejduk needed to be covered. The Czech took an un-contested breakaway, beating Harding after what seemed like a couple dozen dekes.
-Dayton would end up scoring two more to finish the game with eight to Thunder Bay's two.
-"Not a good game for us obviously," said Thunder Bay head coach, Craig Hartsburg. "Highs were too high, and lows too low. We weren't out of it in the first. Cutting their lead in half was big for us going into the first intermission. We matched their intensity in the second, but couldn't chip in any to make the score closer. Eventually we had a lapse and they made us pay. The third period we just couldn't hang with them. We did for a little bit, but they out worked us and we simply couldn't catch them on the scoreboard and our defense cracked towards the end."
-In other team news, defenseman-turned-forward, Dustin Byfuglien was traded to the Quebec Remparts with prospect goalie Thomas Greiss for prospect forward James Neal and prospect goalie Brian Elliott. Byfuglien had been a healthy scratch in the Timberwolves' two previous pre-season games.
-"We didn't trade Buff (Byfuglien) because we lost faith in him," said GM Blake Wendt. "We were having issues getting him in the lineup because of depth on the wings. He played all summer on the wing and we felt that that was where he needed to be to be the most effective in this league. As opposed to defense. I think he'll have a better opportunity in Quebec and we wish him the best of luck. We're very happy about the players we've acquired though. Neal is the complete package in our opinion. He's big and only getting bigger. Plays a sound all-around game, nice hands and wheels and an excellent work ethic. Elliott is someone we've pursued for awhile now. He had an outstanding collegiate career at Wisconsin. He's got very good size, agility and positions himself well. We see him as someone that will fight for a starters job here in the near future."