The Lakehead Thunderwolves face the York Lions Wednesday night at the Fort William Gardens in Thunder Bay in the first game of their best-of-three OUA West semi-final series. Game two, and three if necessary, will be played in Toronto at York's Beatrice Ice Gardens. Lakehead finished the regular season with a 15-8-1 OUA record and were 23-16-2-1 overall (Now 17-8-1 in OUA overall and 25-16-2-1 overall). York finished the season with a 12-6-5-1 OUA record and were 15-8-5-1 overall.
Although Lakehead finished the regular season with more points than York (31-30), the Lions are the home team in this series as they won the OUA Mid West Division (9th consecutive season) and are therefore seeded No. 2 in the West playoffs behind Western, while Lakehead's is seeded No. 3. The Thunderwolves are coming off a 2-0 first round series win over the Guelph Gryphons while York had a first round bye.
Head to Head: If the Western Mustangs are Lakehead's biggest OUA rival, then the York Lions must be considered as the Thunderwolves nemesis as the Lions have defeated favoured Lakehead teams in the postseason during the past two years at the Queen's Cup. The Thunderwolves have a record of 6-5 against York in three seasons of OUA play, and last season were 3-1 against York. This season, the two teams split their regular season series in Toronto in November; York winning 2-1 and Lakehead winning 6-0. This season, the Lions don't have Derek Dolson in goal but do have a lot of offensive firepower and a very strong goaltender in Scott Della Vedova.
Lakehead was third in CIS regular season offense with 4.4 goals per game while York was 13th at 3.4 per game. Lakehead and York were tied for 6th in CIS team defense allowing 2.7 goals per game.
Lakehead Head Coach Pete Belliveau said the Lions have been very difficult playoff opponents for the Thunderwolves. "We are playing the defending OUA champions who have beaten us at the last two Queen's Cups. They have added three former pros and are playing super hockey as of late. We did split with them in November, but that was before they added the three pros; they always elevate their game in the playoffs and will want to defend their Queens Cup. So, we will have to show excellent team defense on a consistent basis in order to give ourselves a chance to win this series. Coach Wise always does an excellent job of getting his team to peak in the playoffs and they do get up to play us tough as history has shown the last two seasons!
Lakehead's top line of Joel Scherban, Jeff Richards, and Austin Wycisk has been strong so far in the playoffs, with Scherban notching 1 goal and 4 assists, Richards with 2 goals and 2 assists, and Wycisk with 1 goal and 3 assists. Peter Cava played some very creative hockey in the two games vs. Guelph but his linemates need to convert his clever passing to take the pressure off Lakehead's first line against York. Defensemen Mike Self, Dene Poulin, Erik Lodge, Hugo Lehoux, and Steve Rawski played a very strong second game vs. the Gryphons; something they will have to repeat against the Lions. Goaltender Chris Whitley played very well in the 3-0 second game shutout and has a playoff record of 2-0, GAA of 1.5, and save percentage of .948.
York Head Coach Graham Wise said his team knows the series will be a battle. "I think Lakehead is an outstanding team, and well coached. They will be ready for this series for sure. We're in tough."
The Lions have a very balanced attack in the regular season led by Shane Nash (9 goals, 16 assists; 17th OUA), Phil Knapp (11 goals, 12 assists), Matt Reynolds (9 goals, 10 assists), Eric Gooldy (6 goals, 13 assists)