The Thunderwolves mens hockey team is back in action Friday, October 2nd and Saturday the 3rd as OUA West Division rivals, the Guelph Gryphons travel to the Fort William Gardens on Lakehead Homecoming Weekend. Both games start at 7:30pm.
Head coach Joel Scherban will make his CIS coaching debut on Friday, leading a Wolves team that went 27-16-1 overall and 18-8-0-2 in the OUA regular season in 2008-09.
Lakehead finished fourth in the Far West Division in and was eliminated in three games in the OUA West semi-finals by the Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks. The Wolves were 0-2 as they hosted the CIS Cavendish University Cup at the Fort William Gardens.
Coach Shawn Camps Gryphons were 14-12-0-2 in OUA play last season and earned a second place finish in the Mid West Division. They were eliminated in three games in the OUA West quarter-finals by the Western Mustangs.
The Gryphons are 0-1 this season after an 8-5 exhibition loss to Laurier, September 19th at Brantford, Ontario.
The teams will compete in the newly created nine-team OUA West Division after the league opted to drop the former four division format.
Head to Head
The Thunderwolves swept the 2008-09 season series with the Gryphons, winning by scores of 6-4 and 6-3, November 28-29, 2008 at the Fort Williams Gardens.
Lakehead has an all-time record of 13-3-2 overall and 2-0 in the playoffs versus Guelph and has outscored the Gryphons 88-56 in those 18 games.
Lakehead Thunderwolves
The Thunderwolves carry a 23-man roster including 13 forwards, eight defensemen and two goalies.
Eight Thunder Bay natives will suit up for the Thunderwolves including goaltending recruit Alex Dupuis and walk-ons Mike Thibert, and Brennan Menard who earned their roster spots with strong auditions at Wolves open tryouts earlier this month.
Freshman forwards Victor Anilane of Gothenburg, Sweden, and Andrew Wilkins of Pickering, Ontario will join an experienced Thunderwolves team that will host the 2010 CIS Cavendish University Cup at the Fort William Gardens in March for a second consecutive year.
Forwards Dan Speer of Thunder Bay, Shandor Alphonso of Orangeville, Ontario and Scott Dobben of Drayton, Ontario all enter their fifth and final seasons of CIS eligibility with Lakehead.
Nine of the Thunderwolves top ten scorers from last season will return, led by fourth-year forward Brock McPherson of Brampton, Ontario who netted 27 goals with 20 assists in 47 games in 2008-09.
Dan Speer (12G, 23A, 35PTS last season), Kris Hogg (16G, 18A), Scott Dobben (15G, 18A, 33PTS) and Mark Soares (11G, 16A, 27PTS) will be called upon to continued their offensive success for Lakehead.
Captain Jordan Smith of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario will anchor the Wolves blueline along with third-years Mitch Maunu, and Pierre-Marc Guilbaunt, and second-year Kalvin Sagert. Lakehead allowed only 69 goals during last years OUA regular season, second in the league behind UQTR.
Third-year goaltender Kyle Moir of Calgary will join Dupuis between the pipes following the graduation of former starter Chris Whitley. Moir went 10-8-1 with a 2.32 goals against average and a .918 save percentage last season.
Guelph Gryphons
The Gyphons field a young roster of 26 players including 15 forwards, eight defensemen, and three netminders. Ten first-year athletes earned spots with Guelph, a team that has no fifth-year players.
Fourth-year forwards Mike Nelson of Stratford, Ontario (10G, 16A, 26PTS in the 2008-09 OUA regular season), Derek Knowles of Vanderhoof, BC (9G, 14A, 23PTS) and David Volpe of Bolton, Ontario (8G, 14A, 22PTS) will be counted on to lead the Gryphons offense.
On the blueline, Guelph is led by third-year Barrett Brook of Leduc, AB and fourth-year Jeff Oginski of St. Albert, AB.
Coach Shawn Camps recruiting class includes six players with Canadian Hockey League experience including goaltender Kevin Couture of Mississauga, Ontario, former Guelph Storm defensemen Nathan Martine and Tim Priamo, and forwards Cale Jefferies of Glenboro, Manitoba, Jacob Lalonde of Sudbury, Ontario and Matt Lyall of Richmond Hill, Ontario. Priamo is the first Guelph native to suit up for the Gryphons in several years.
Joining Couture in net are goaltenders Matt Smith, a first-year from Waterloo, Ontario and fourth-year Scott Van Bommel of Norwich, Ontario.