The Lakehead Thunderwolves mens hockey team begin their best-of-three OUA Quarter Final series this Wednesday night at the Fort William Gardens in Thunder Bay against a very familiar opponent; the No. 4 Western Mustangs. Game Two, and Game Three if necessary, will be played in London this weekend.
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 London will be carried on radio 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 first round playoff sweep of the York Lions while Western had a first round bye. This will be the fifth season in a row that the two teams will meet in the playoffs, all five seasons of the Thunderwolves program, and this may be the rubber match as both teams have won two playoff series apiece. Lakehead won in 2002-03 and 03-04 while Western won in 2001-02 and 04-05 and all the series have been fantastic.
Lakehead enters the series with 15-9-2 OUA mark (19-15-4 overall) while Western was 21-2-1 in conference play (26-7-1 overall); the best record in the OUA. Western is second in the CIS in goal for per game at 4.5 while Lakehead is eighth at 3.6 per game. Western is second in the CIS at goals allowed at two per game while Lakehead is tied for fifth at 2.5.
Lakehead Head Coach Pete Belliveau said his team is up against a very formidable opponent. We are playing Western for the fifth time in the last five years of the OUA playoffs. I will admit that the Stangs have owned us the last six games we have played against each other but playoff hockey brings out so much desperation in all of us so hang on because this will be another great barnburner of a series. Goaltending will be the key!
Head to Head:
Western defeated Lakehead in all four regular season meetings this season. Lakehead is 10-21 against Western; 4-16 in regular season and 6-5 in playoffs. Western has outscored Lakehead 126-83 in 31 games.
Lakehead Thunderwolves:
Lakehead Captain Joel Scherban (18 goals, 14 assists OUA games) looks back in his normal excellent form and he will be key against the powerful Stangs. Scherban scored 5 of his teams 9 goals vs. York in the first round. Lakehead star forward Jeff Richards (11 goals, 13 assists) is still out due to injury and high-energy forward Mike Wehrstedt (4 goals, 8 assists) is day-to-day and questionable for Wednesdays game.
A big positive for Lakehead fans was how a lot of the younger players began to step up in the York series when Lakehead had a lot of players out due to injury or illness. Tobias Whelan (3 goals, 6 assists), Brad Priestlay (4 goals, 6 assists), Dan Speer (5 goals, 8 assists), and Andrew Brown (5 goals, 6 assists) all played some great hockey against the Lions and will be key for the Wolves to be successful in this series.
Murray Magill (1 goal, 10 assists) also played good hockey against York but if he can start scoring that will be a big bonus for Lakehead. Mark Robinson (8 goals, 7 assists) probably played his best hockey of the year against the Lions.
Defenseman Mike Jacobsen (7 goals, 12 assists) played exceptionally as well against York as did forward Jason Lange (8 goals, 11 assists). Offensive d-men Matt Jacques (4 goals, 8 assists) and Erik Lodge (5 goals, 11 assists) looked sharp against York; and Lodge was very strong. D-men Hugo Lehoux, Drew Kivell, and Dan Rogers will look to support goaltenders Grant McCune (Reg. Season 6-6, GAA 2.94, SV% .899: Playoffs: 2-0, GAA 3.23, SV% .900) and Chris Whitley (7-3-2, GAA 2.05, SV% .925). McCune made some fantastic stops against York while Whitley is an excellent keeper who is ready to step in and start at any tim