The No. 4 Lakehead Thunderwolves enter the 2003 Bell Varsity Cup witha 9-2-1 first halfOUA record (13-3-1 overall and a .792 winning percentage), good for second place in the OUA Far West Division, one point behind the No. 3 Western Mustangs. The team has been ranked in the Top 10 since the beginning of the 2002-2003 season.
Head Coach Pete Belliveau said his team is looking forward to facing off against some of the best teams in the CIS. "We are looking forward to defending our Bell Cup Championship this coming December; it will allow our program to play some of Canada'a top ranked teams during the Holiday break. Our fans will be the real winners!!"
Lakehead is ranked second in CIS offense, averaging 5.7 goals per game. They are tied for seventh with Calgary in team defense, allowing 2.8 goals per game. The Thunderwolves are third in the OUA on the powerplay at 24.14% and fifth in the conference on the penalty kill at 87.67%. Lakehead has a 2-2 record vs. Calgary, 4-3 record vs. York, and 0-1 record vs. UNB in two and a half seasons.
The team has been getting a balanced scoring attack with 19 players scoring goals. Jeff Richards leads the team with 7 goals and 15 assists, Joel Scherban is next with 9 goals and 9 assists, and Bryan Duce is third with 9 goals and 8 assists. Rookie Mike Wehrstedt is fourth with 6 goals and 9 assists.
The Thunderwolves started out very strong the first half of the season. They won their first regular season home game at Western, defeating the Mustangs 3-2. They swept No. 6 York in a home stand in November. They led the CIS in scoring and the OUA in powerplay scoring during most of the first half of the season. Jeff Richards was named OUA Athlete of the week in November. And, their balanced scoring makes it tough for opposing coaches to match lines. All of these factors bode well for the Thunderwolves to make a strong bid to repeat as Bell Varsity Cup Champions against a very strong field.