The Lakehead Thunderwolves head to London, Ontario this weekend for two games against divisional rival No. 5 Western Mustangs on Saturday night at 7:00 pm EST and Sunday afternoon at 2:00 pm EST at the John Labatt Centre in London. Both games can be heard live in Thunder Bay on 580 CKPR AM radio and online at www.ckpr.am with Bryan Wyatt calling all the action.
Lakehead heads into London with a 13-7-2 OUA mark (17-13-4 overall) while Western is 19-2-1 in conference play (24-7-1 overall). Lakehead is coming off an away sweep of Brock while Western lost to Laurier and defeated Guelph last weekend. Western has clinched first place in the OUA West while Lakehead has clinched a playoff berth but is still fighting for playoff positioning.
Lakehead is tied for sixth in the CIS in goals for at 3.7 while Western is second in the country at 4.5 per game. Western is second in the CIS in goals allowed at 2 per game while Lakehead is tied for fourth at 2.4.
Lakehead Head Coach Pete Belliveau said this is a big weekend his team. We will be playing our arch rivals for valuable points for us, while they will playing for bragging rights as they have clinched first place. They are the best team in the league as their record shows plenty of scoring power spread out throughout their line-up, and their defense is also strong. We will have to play inspired good defensive hockey and stay out of the penalty box. Coach Singer has his Mustangs playing very strong two-way hockey.
Head to Head:
Western defeated Lakehead twice this season in Thunder Bay in early January. Lakehead is 10-19 against Western; 4-14 in regular season and 6-5 in playoffs. Western has outscored Lakehead 118-79 in those 29 games.
Lakehead Thunderwolves:
The Thunderwolves have been playing good team hockey of late and will have to continue that trend in London against an excellent Mustangs side. The Wolves will be led by Captain Joel Scherban (12 goals, 12 assists: tied 12th OUA) and speedy winger Jeff Richards (11 goals, 13 assists: tied 12th OUA).
They will also look to continued strong play from forward Tobias Whelan (2 goals, 4 assists), Brad Priestlay (4 goals, 4 assists), Dan Speer (4 goals, 6 assists), Andrew Brown (5 goals, 6 assists) and defenseman Mike Jacobsen (7 goals, 11 assists). Forward Jason Lange (8 goals, 11 assists) has been on fire recently and his play, along with linemates Murray Magill (2 goals, 9 assists) will also be key. Offensive d-men Matt Jacques (4 goals, 7 assists) and Erik Lodge (3 goals, 8 assists) have also played very well.
D-men Hugo Lehoux, Drew Kivell, and Dan Rogers will look to support goaltenders Grant McCune (6-5, GAA of 2.86, SV% of .910) and Chris Whitley (7-2-2, GAA of 1.97, SV% of .930).
On the injury front, Mike Wehrstedt remains out for 1-2 weeks with an upper body injury and unfortunately defenseman Steve Rawski was hurt last Saturday against Brock and will be out for the rest of the season.
Lakehead 05-06 Results:
Sat Feb 4 Lakehead 4 Brock 2
Fri Feb 3 Lakehead 3 Brock 2 OL
Sat Jan 28 Lakehead 7 Guelph 1
Fri Jan 27 Lakehead 5 Guelph 3
Sat Jan 21 Waterloo 8 Lakehead 5
Fri Jan 20 Lakehead 4 Waterloo 0
Sat Jan 14 Western 2 Lakehead 0
Fri Jan 13 Western 3 Lakehead 2
Wed Dec 28 Lake Superior St 4 Lakehead 0 EX
Thu Dec 29 StFX 3 Lakehead 2 NC OT
Fri Dec 30 Calgary 5 Lakehead 1 NC
Sat Dec 3 Lakehead 1 Waterloo 1 OT TIE
Fri Dec 2 Waterloo 4 Lakehead 2
Sat Nov 26 Lakehead 10 Toronto 0
Fri Nov 25 Lakehead 6 Toronto 4
Sat Nov 19 Lakehead 3 RMC 3 OT TIE
Fri Nov 18 Lakehead 3 RMC 1
Sat Nov 12 Lakehead 5 York 3
Fri Nov 11 Lakehead 6 York 1
Sat Nov 5 Lakehead 3 Laurier 0
Fri Nov 4 Laurier 5 Lakehead 2
Sat Oct 29 Lakehead 3 Windsor 1
Fri Oct 28 Lakehead 3 Windsor 2