The #3 seed Lakehead Thunderwolves hockey team will meet the #6 seed Waterloo Warriors in the best-of-three OUA West Division quarter-finals. Game one will be played Wednesday night at 7:30 in Waterloo, and will be broadcast live on Rock 94.3 FM. The series then shifts to Thunder Bay as Lakehead will have home ice for game two on Friday night at 7:30, and if necessary, game three on Saturday night.
Last Time Out
The Wolves and the Warriors will be very familiar with each other, as the two teams just played a pair of games last weekend in Waterloo to wind up the regular season. Waterloo took the Friday game 4-3 in overtime, but Lakehead rebounded with a 4-2 win on Saturday.
Series History
Lakehead holds the all-time series lead over Waterloo with a record of 26-14-2 versus the Warriors, but the teams split the four games they played against each other this season. In addition to last weekends split, the two teams also opened the OUA season this year in Thunder Bay in early October with both teams collecting one win each. Waterloo took the Friday game 5-4 in overtime, but Lakehead rebounded with a decisive 7-3 win on the Saturday night.
The last time Lakehead played Waterloo in the playoffs was in the 2008-09 OUA quarter-finals. The Thunderwolves swept that series over the Warriors two games to none.
About the Warriors
Waterloo finished in sixth-place in the OUA West Division with a record of 15-12-1, good for 31 points. The Division race was very close this season, and even though Waterloo finished in sixth as compared to Lakeheads third-place finish, the Warriors were only 4 points behind the Wolves in the leagues final standings.
Waterloos top forwards are Tyler Moir (brother of Lakehead goalie Kyle Moir), Chris Ray, and Jarrett Schnurr. On defence, they are led by Steve Whitely and Kyle Sonnenburg, while Keaton Hartigan is the Warriors number one goalie.
Scherbans Take
Lakehead Head Coach Joel Scherban knows this series with the Warriors will be a battle. We look forward to what is sure to be a very tough series against the Warriors, Scherban said. They are a talented, hardworking, veteran team with two of the top players in the division with perennial all-stars Chris Ray and Kyle Sonnenburg. He went on to add, This past weekend we played two of our most complete games of the season, and we will look to build on that on Wednesday evening.