It's early March. It's the OUA West playoffs. So, it must be time for the Lakehead Thunderwolves and the Western Mustangs to do battle. The No. 8 Wolves and the No. 5 Stangs begin their OUA West Final series, their fourth consecutive post-season series, at the Fort William Gardens in Thunder Bay on Wednesday. Both teams know what's at stake; a berth at the CIS National Championships in Edmonton and a chance to host the Queen's Cup Final game.
Game time Wednesday is 7:30 pm EST. Game two in Londonis slated for Saturday night at 7:30, and game three, if necessary, will be Sunday night at 7:30 in London. The game(s) in London can be heard live in Thunder Bay on 580 CKPR AM radio and online at www.ckpr.com with Bryan Wyatt and Chris Prystanski calling all the action.
The Thunderwolves have a combined OUA record of 19-8-1 and an overall record of 27-16-2-1. Lakehead is coming off a 2-0 first round playoff series win over the Guelph Gryphons and a very hard fought 2-0 OUA West Quarter Final series win over the York Lions that saw both games go to double overtime. Western has a combined OUA record of 19-8 and are 24-13 overall. The Stangs are coming off a tough 2-1 OUA West Quarter Final series win over the Waterloo Warriors.
Lakehead Head Coach Pete Belliveau said this should be a great series. "This will be our fourth playoff meeting in four years and who will ever forget last year's series! I think this will be a very tough battle and the Mustangs really took it to us three weeks ago in Thunder Bay and full marks to them for playing so well. We know that these games will be tight defensive struggles, where discipline and execution will be key and the fans will be seeing excellent hockey!"
Head to Head: The Thunderwolves are 9-15 vs. Western all-time but Lakehead has taken two of three playoff series, and the last two in a row. This season, the teams split their four regular season games, but a little strangely, as both teams won twice on the road in the other's arena. Lakehead was third in CIS regular season offense with 4.4 goals per game while Western was second with 4.5 per game. Lakehead was tied for 6th in CIS team defense allowing 2.7 goals per game while Western was tied for 7th allowing 2.8 which puts them dead even in goal differential.
The Thunderwolves big line of OUA MVP Joel Scherban (2 goals, 5 assists playoff scoring), OUA West First Team All Star Jeff Richards (3 goals, 3 assists), and Austin Wycisk (2 goals, 4 assists) have been very effective offensively so far in the playoffs and will need to be at their best to spark the Wolves. The Wolves will also need Peter Cava (2 goals, 1 assist) to come up with some offensive magic. Sean Stefanski seems to have found his jump again and his play could be key and the Wolves need Murray Magill to find his scoring touch. Players like Andrew Brown, Tobias Whelan, Jason Lange, Mike Wehrstedt, and Mark Robinson must also supply some offense to help balance the Lakehead attack.
The Thunderwolves defensive corps of OUA WestFirst Team All Star Erik Lodge, Hugo Lehoux, Mike Self, Steve Rawski, and Dene Poulin has been playing well in the playoffs and will need to play smart against the speedy Mustangs. Wolves netminder Chris Whitley really seems to be back in top form; he is 4-0 in the playoffs with a GAA of 1.32 and a save percentage of .958.
Head Coach Clarke Singer's Mustangs have a lot of firepower and it comes from all over the roster. OUA West Second Team All Star Mike Rice was the Stangs' top scorer in the regular season and was 8th in the OUA with 12 goals and 17 assists.