The No. 9 Manitoba Bisons scored three goals in the last five minutes of the third period to come back from a 6-3 deficit and then went on to defeat the No. 8 Lakehead Thunderwolves 7-6 in overtime to claim the TBayTel Varsity Cup tourney championship Sunday night at the Fort William Gardens in Thunder Bay.

Manitoba had lost 1-0 in the round robin portion of the tourney to Lakehead and these two teams kept up their history of tight games in the exciting tourney final. In nine games played between these two teams in seven seasons; Lakehead is 5-4 but the two teams have both scored exactly 33 goals each. At the TBayTel Varsity Cup tournament; that trend continued with both teams winning a game each and scoring 7 goals each but it was the Bisons who won the game that mattered most.

The Wolves built a 6-3 lead with just over five minutes left and had chased Manitoba starter Krister Toews out of the Bisons goal after the fifth Lakehead tally. Steve Christie came in as relief for Manitoba and was one of the key factors in the Bisons win. Christie made key saves during regulation and was crucial in the upcoming OT. Lakehead’s Brock McPherson also had a goal disallowed during regulation that was deemed a goal by the goal judge but disallowed by the referee.

Lakehead took three minor penalties late in the third that were the turning point in the game; giving the Bisons an extended 5-on-3 powerplay and they scored twice to bring the score to 6-5. Manitoba’s Jared Walker was a force for the Bisons in the third; controlling the Manitoba offense and setting up all three third period goals; including Mike Hellyer’s second of the period at 18:35 to tie the game.

In overtime; Manitoba goaltender Christie was the story as he made five great saves to deny the Thunderwolves and then, to raise the dram even more, there was even a controversial apparent goal for the Wolves that the referee did not have a good view of and was not allowed although the Lakehead players and the large crowd celebrated a goal. Manitoba’s Riley Dudar then made a great individual rush to set up David Brown in the slot for the game winner at 4:36 of the overtime period to give the Bisons the tourney championship.

Mark Soares had a great game for Lakehead; scoring 2 goals and notching 2 assists while line-mate Dan Speer also stood out with 1 goal and 3 assists. Mike Wehrstedt continued his hot offense with 2 goals while Brock McPherson added a goal and an assist. Kris Hogg had two assists for the Wolves.

Jared Walker paced the way for Manitoba with those 3 crucial assists. Chris Falloon led the Bisons scorers with 2 goals with singles coming from Travis Kornelsen, Cole Hunter, Mike Hellyer, Nick Cowan, and David Brown. Hellyer also added 2 assists as did Riley Dudar.

Shots on goal were 42-39 Manitoba on the game but 7-3 Lakehead in the OT. Lakehead was 3-7 on the powerplay and Manitoba went 2-7.

Scoring Summary:
Per: 1:
1) LK: 1:15 PP: Wehrstedt from Kriss Hogg and Andrew Brown
2) MB: 2:30: Hunter from Chris Benias and Wade Davison.
3) LK: McPherson from Dan Speer and Mark Soares
4) MB: 15:26: Kornelsen from Kyle Howarth
5) LK: 16:49: Wehrstedt from Hogg.
Per. 2:
6) LK: 54 seconds: PP: Soares from Pierre-Marc Guilbault and Dan Speer
7) LK: 6:32: Speer from McPherson and Soares
8) MB: 12:51: Nick Cowan from Riley Dudar
Per. 3:
9) LK: 10:03: PP: Soares from Speer
10) MB: 14:56: PP: Falloon from Hellyer and Walker
11) MB: 16:43: PP: Hellyer from Walker
12) MB: 18:35: Falloon from Hellyer and Walker
OT:
13) MB: 4:36: David Brown from Riley Dudar

The Molson’s Three Stars, as chosen by Bryan Wyatt of CKPR FM Radio, were:
1) MB: Mike Hellyer
2) Lakehead: Mark Soares
3) MB: Chris Falloon

The TBayTel Varsity Cup All Tournament Team were:
Goaltender: Steve Christie: Manitoba
Defense: Pierre-Marc Guilbault: Lakehead
Defense: Stephane Lenoski: Manitoba
Forward: Jared Walker: Manitoba
Forward: Mark Soares: Lakehead
Forward: Dan Speer: Lakehead