The Lakehead Thunderewolves mens hockey team open their OUA playoff run this Wednesday in Toronto against their traditional playoff nemesis; the York Lions. Game One opens at the Beatrice Ice Gardens at 7:30 pm on Wednesday and Game Two will be at the Fort William Gardens in Thunder Bay of Friday night at 7:30 pm EST, with Game Three Saturday night at the FWG if necessary.
Wednesdays game can be heard live from Toronto on 580 CKPR AM radio in Thunder Bay and online at www.ckpr.com with Bryan Wyatt calling all the action. Friday and Saturdays games will be videowebcast live from Fort William Gardens in partnership with News-cast.com and ordering info is available at the Lakehead hockey site; www.thunderwolveshockey.com.
Lakehead finished the regular season in third place in the OUA Far West (4th overall OUA West) with a 13-9-2 conference record (17-15-4 overall) while York was second in the OUA Mid West Division (5th overall OUA West) with a 10-11-1-2 OUA mark (23 points) and 10-18-1-2 overall.
Lakehead Head Coach Pete Belliveau said his team expects a battle. A new season is upon us and we must be ready to compete each and every shift. We all remember our playoff series last year where two games went into overtime; we expect the same type of tight series this week.
Lakehead had 86 goals for and 61 against in the regular season while York had 60 goals for, and 96 against. The Wolves scored at 3.6 goals per game while the Lions scored 2.5 per game. Lakehead allowed 2.6 per game while York allowed 4.1.
Head to Head:
These two teams have played each other 15 times; with Lakehead going 10-5 (7-3 regular season; 1-0 non-conference; and 2-2 playoffs). Lakehead has met the Lions three times previously in the second season and defeated them last season in a hard fought series while the Lions won two one-game playoffs in the old playoff format the two previous seasons. Lakehead has outscored York 66-34 in those 15 games. This season; Lakehead defeated York twice in regular season play by 6-1 and 5-3 scores; with both games being played in Thunder Bay.
Lakehead Thunderwolves:
Lakehead will look for leadership from the Captain Joel Scherban (13 goals; 14 assists, 16th OUA); who enters his final playoff run with the Wolves. Of big concern for Lakehead fans was the injury to Jeff Richards (11 goals, 13 assists) which occurred in Saturdays game against Western. Richards is questionable for the series against York and perhaps for the rest of the playoffs.
Offensively, Lakehead will need continued strong play from Jason Lange (8 goals, 11 assists) who has played great hockey recently. The play of veterans Mark Robinson (6 goals, 6 assists), Murray Magill (2 goals, 9 assists), and Craig Priestlay (2 goals, 1 assist) will be important if Lakehead will be successful in this series. The two-way play of Dan Speer (4 goals, 6 assists), Brad Priestlay (4 goals, 5 assists), and Tobias Whelan (3 goals, 4 assists) will also be crucial. Speer, Priestlay, and Whelan have also been skating very well the past four games. Shandor Alphonso (2 goals, 4 assists) will return to the line-up after serving a suspension and he could be a much needed spark for the Wolves.
Smooth skating Mike Jacobsen (7 goals, 12 assists), Erik Lodge (4 goals, 9 assists), and Matt Jacques (4 goals, 8 assists) will need to deliver scoring from the blue line while Hugo Lehoux, Mike Self, Drew Kivell (8 assists), and Dan Rogers (2 goals, 3 assists) will be needed to keep the York forwards honest in the Lakehead zone.
Lakeheads goaltenders are ready for the postseason and Grant McCune is 6-6-0 with a GAA of 3.06 and a SV% of .900 while Chris Whitley is 7-3-2 with a GAA of 2.08 and a SV% of .930.
On the injury front; Steve Rawski is out for the season while Mike We