The Lakehead Thunderwolves open the second half of the OUA regular season with a very big two-game home stand Friday night and Saturday afternoon vs. the OUA Far West leading Western Mustangs at the Fort William Gardens in Thunder Bay. Saturdays game will be televised live at 2:00 pm EST on Thunder Bay Television CTV locally in Thunder Bay on Channel 4/Cable 6 and Bell Express Vu Channel 222 and nationally on Star Choice Satellite TV on Channel 314 with Bryan Wyatt calling all the action.
Lakehead enters the weekend with an 8-4-2 OUA mark (12-10-4 overall) while the powerful first place Stangs are 13-1-1 in OUA action and 18-6-1 overall. The Mustangs are coming off two big wins over Far West Rivals Waterloo last weekend. Lakehead is coming off its own T Bay Tel Varsity Cup tournament where it went 0-2-0-1.
Western is second in the CIS in scoring at 4.7 per game compared to Lakeheads 3.7 (10th CIS). Western allows 2.1 goals per game (4th CIS) compared to Lakeheads 2.3 per game (5th CIS).
Head to Head:
These will be the 28th and 29th meetings between the Thunderwolves and the Stangs with Western holding a 17-10 record against Lakehead. Western is 12-4 against Lakehead in regular season play while the Wolves are 6-5 against the Stangs in playoff action. Western has outscored Lakehead 113 to 77 in those games and the Stangs defeated Lakehead in last seasons OUA West Finals playoff series 2-1.
Lakehead Head Coach Pete Belliveau said his squad will have to be at their best this weekend. This will be our most important series of the year; we will need to be at our defensive best and have our highest intensity level of the year. We will need 100 percent from everybody as we are playing the top team in the OUA.
Lakehead will look for leadership from team captain and Sullivan Trophy Winner Joel Scherban who anchors the first line. Scherban (8 goals, 9 assists; 14th OUA) set the Lakehead Hockey All Time scoring mark in November and looks to set a mark that will stand for some time to come by the time this season is over. Scherban is also approaching the Lakehead All Time goal scoring mark as he now has 95; two behind the mark of 97 set by Larry Zulianello of the Lakehead Norwesters.
Jeff Richards (8 goals, 11 assists; tied 6th OUA, tied 8th CIS) will also be needed if the Wolves are going to be successful against Western. Richards too is approaching the Lakehead all time goal scoring mark as he presently has 93. Richards is averaging more than 2 points a game in regular season play. Playmaker Peter Cava is also a threat with 3 goals and 7 assists.
Forwards Mark Robinson (5 goals, 4 assists), Brad Priestlay (1 goal, 2 assists), Andrew Brown (2 goals, 3 assists), Shandor Alphonso (2 goals, 3 assists), and Dan Speer (3 goals, 2 assists) are also dangerous as are proven Lakehead veterans Murray Magill (1 goal, 5 assists) and Jason Lange (4 goals, 7 assists). Lange showed great form in the final games heading into the holiday break. Tobias Whelan is also back and his speed could be key against Western. Key forward Mike Wehrstedt (4 goals, 4 assists) remains out due to injury but should rejoin the Wolves in late January.
The Wolves have a deep and talented defensive corps led by CIS All Canadian Erik Lodge (2 goals, 3 assists) and offensive star Mike Jacobsen (4 goals, 6 assists). Hugo Lehoux , Steve Rawski (2 assists), Mike Self (4 assists), Kris Callaway and Drew Kivell (7 assists) will also be key on the Lakehead blue line. Newcomers Matt Jacques (2 goals, 1 assist) and Dan Rogers (2 goals, 3 assists) have also played well.
The Thunderwolves goaltending tandem of Grant McCune (2-2, GAA of 2.89, 0.907 SV%) and Chris Whitley (6-2-2, GAA of 1.91, 0.931 SV%) are excellent and either can start between the pipes and both provide an excellent final line of defense in the Lakehead goal.