The Lakehead Thunderwolves hockey team will begin its 2012-13 campaign with a two-game home series against the University of Ottawa Gee Gees. Game times are 7:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday nights at the Fort William Gardens.
Last Time Out
This will be Lakeheads first game since the OUA playoffs last February. After finishing the regular season in second place in the nine-team OUA West Division, the Thunderwolves defeated Guelph two games to one in the quarter-final round. Upon advancing to the semi-finals, the Wolves were eliminated by the same two games to one margin by the Windsor Lancers due in large part to the outstanding play of Lancers goalie Parker Van Buskirk.
Series History
Lakehead leads the all-time series versus Ottawa with a record of 5-1 over the Gee Gees. The last time the two teams met in Thunder Bay was the 2010-11 season opener at the Fort William Gardens. The Wolves swept that series by scores of 6-0 and 7-2. Lakehead travelled to Ottawa last October and met a much tougher squad, but still managed to edge the Gee Gees by scores of 3-1 and 4-2.
About the Gee Gees
Ottawa is led by second-year Head Coach Real Paiement, who previously had been a Head Coach for various team in the QMJHL from 1986 to 2011, as well as the Canadian National Junior team in 1997.
The Gee Gees are a fairly young team, with 7 freshmen and only 3 seniors in the line-up. But they do have 4 of their top 5 scorers from last season returning; junior forwards Luc-Olivier Blain-Ouellet and Stephen Blunden; sophomore forward Alexandre Touchette; and junior defenceman Dominic Jalbert.
Sophomore goalie Russell Abbott will likely be the mainstay in the nets this season, after starting 21 games for the Gee Gees as a freshman and posting a respectable 2.90 goals against average.
A Gee Gee is the first horse out of the gate in horse racing, and also stands for Garnet and Grey, the University of Ottawas official team colors.
Scherbans Take
Thunderwolves Head Coach Joel Scherban is eager to see his team hit the ice. After two and a half weeks of practice, were anxious to test ourselves against a quality OUA opponent, Scherban said. Ottawa is a well coached, hard-working team that features some elite players.