The No. 7 Lakehead Thunderwolves mens hockey team begin their best-of-three OUA Semi Final series Wednesday nightat the Fort William Gardens in Thunder Bay against a very tough opponent; the No. 9 Laurier Golden Hawks. Game Two will be played Friday at 7:30 pm ESTat the Waterloo Recreation Complex with Game Three Sunday in Waterloo at 7:30 pm, if necessary. The winner of this semi-final is guaranteed a spot in the CIS National Championships in Edmonton later in March while the loser will still get a shot through the OUA Bronze Medal game as the OUA sends three teams to the six-team nationals this year.
Wednesdays game from Thunder Bay starts at 7:30 pm EST and will be videowebcast live with ordering info available at www.thunderwolveshockey.com. The games in Waterloo will be carried live in Thunder Bay on 580 CKPR AM and online at www.ckpr.com with Bryan Wyatt calling all the action.
The Thunderwolves are coming off a hard-fought 2-1 OUA Quarter Final playoff win over the No. 4 Western Mustangs while Laurier had an equally tough battle as they defeated the No. 10 Waterloo Warriors 2-1 in their OUA Quarter Final series. Lakehead enters the series with 17-10-2 OUA mark (4-1 playoffs) and 21-16-4 overall, while Laurier is 15-9-3 in OUA play (2-1 playoffs) and 19-13-2 overall.
Lakehead was tied for 8th in CIS regular season play in goals for at 3.6 while Laurier was tied for 9th at 3.5. Lakehead was tied for 5th in CIS regular season goals allowed at 2.5 per game while Laurier was 10th at 3.2. Lakehead has scored 3.6 goals per game in the playoffs and allowed 3.2 while Laurier has scored 4.33 and allowed 4 per game.
The ability to win on the road could decide this series as Lakehead has not lost a home playoff game in their five seasons in the OUA (each year making the playoffs and winning at least one round) at the Fort William Gardens while the Hawks are 14-2 at the Waterloo Recreation Complex this season.
Lakehead Head Coach Pete Belliveau said his team knows what is at stake in this series against a very strong Laurier team. Laurier is the most improved team in the OUA West. They are a fast team with great transition play, solid defense, and strong goaltending. Coach Martell has done a great job of putting a solid team together and this series should be an exciting battle.
Head to Head:
Lakehead is 9-3 against Laurier all time; 7-3 in regular season play and 2-0 in non-conference play. The two teams split their two regular season games played in Waterloo this season; a 3-0 Lakehead win and a 5-2 Laurier victory. Lakehead has outscored Laurier 55-30 in their 12 previous meetings.
Lakehead Thunderwolves:
Lakehead Captain Joel Scherban (19 goals, 16 assists OUA games) will need to be a steadying influence on his squad as the are so close to a berth at the nationals. Scherbans experience and leadership will be key this series as will the play of fellow fifth year senior defenseman Erik Lodge (5 goals, 11 assists).
Lakehead star forward Jeff Richards (11 goals, 13 assists) is listed as day-to-day for the Laurier series and his return would be quite a boost. Senior Jason Lange (10 goals, 12 assists) played phenomenal hockey against Western and he will again be a crucial cog to the Wolves success in this series. High-energy forward Mike Wehrstedt (7 goals, 8 assists) also made quite an impact upon his return from injury for the Western series and has scored 3 goals so far in the playoffs.
The younger players stepped it up again in the Western series with players like Tobias Whelan (5 goals, 6 assists), Brad Priestlay (4 goals, 6 assists), Dan Speer (5 goals, 10 assists), and Andrew Brown (5 goals, 6 assists) playing great two-way hockey. Mark Robinson (8 goals, 8 assists) again played fantastic hockey against the<