The No. 3 Lakehead Thunderwolves head to Kingston, Ontario to take on the resurgent Queens Golden Gaels for a two-game OUA weekend series. Lakehead goes into the weekend with a 6-2-0-0 OUA record (12-4-1-1 overall) while Queens is 4-4-0-0 in OUA play and 5-5-0-0 overall. Lakehead is coming off a split against York last weekend while Queens is coming off losses to Ottawa and McGill.
Lakehead Head Coach Pete Belliveau knows that the Gaels play tough hockey at the Jock Harty. We are going into a rink where the home team has not lost an OUA game this season, and they've beaten York and UQTR. They are very tough at home, and we know this will be a very challenging road series.
The Thunderwolves have been playing some strong defense so far this season, only allowing 1.6 goals per game (2nd CIS) while scoring at an average clip of 4 goals per game (8th CIS). Lakehead has received strong goaltending this season from fourth year OUA All-Star Grant McCune (2-2 OUA, 2.52 GAA, .917 Save %) and rookie sensation Chris Whitley (4-0 OUA, 0.75 GAA, .976 Save %).
Lakehead has three players in the OUA Top 20 for scoring; Murray Magill (4 goals and 6 assists), Jeff Richards (3 goals and 6 assists), and Captain Joel Scherban (6 goals and 3 assists). Lakehead is also receiving strong offense from Chris Shaffer, Erik Lodge, and Peter Cava, though Cava has been fighting an injury. On defense, Mike Self has been excellent over the past four games; playing solid defense and contributing on the offensive end as well. Drew Kivell and Jesse Baraniuk have also played well on the point with big Steve Rawski playing a strong physical defensive role.
The Golden Gaels had a hot start to the season, going 3-1 and notching big wins over York and UQTR, but have had a tough stretch since the win over Les Patriotes. Brad Walford leads the Queens attack with 3 goals and 6 assists while Mark Norman has recorded 5 goals and 2 assists. Queens has received good netminding this year from the tandem of Mathew Kenney (3-3 OUA) and Michael Studli (1-1 OUA).
Queens Results:
Sat Nov 13 Ottawa 5 Queen's 2
Fri Nov 12 McGill 5 Queen's 0
Sat Nov 6 Concordia 5 Queen's 3
Fri Nov 5 Queen's 4 UQTR 2
Sun Oct 31 Laurier 7 Queen's 3
Sat Oct 30 Queen's 4 Guelph 3
Sat Oct 23 Queen's 2 York 1
Fri Oct 22 Queen's 5 Brock 3
Sat Oct 16 Queen's 4 Carleton 1 EX
Sat Oct 9 Wayne State 3 Queen's 1 EX
Game times are 7:30 pm EST Friday and 7:00 pm EST Saturday at the Jock Harty Arena and both games can be heard live in Thunder Bay on 580 CKPR AM Radio and online around the world at www.ckpr.com as Bryan Wyatt and Chris Prystanski call all the action. The pre-game show starts 30 minutes before face-off each night.