After splitting their two-game home series last weekend with the Laurier Golden Hawks, the Lakehead Thunderwolves men's hockey team will turn their attention to Toronto Varsity Blues, November 13-14 at the Fort William Gardens in Thunder Bay. Faceoff for both games goes at 7:30pm EST.
Head coach Joel Scherban's Thunderwolves (8-3-1 overall; 6-3-1 OUA) will be looking for a consistent effort after going 3-3-1 over their last seven games. Meanwhile, 15-year veteran head coach Darren Lowe leads his Varsity Blues (6-8-1 overall; 5-4-1 OUA) into Thunder Bay looking for valuable points needed to stay in the top half of the OUA East Division. The series will pit the OUA regular season's first and second leading scorers against each other in Toronto's Byron Elliott (15 points) and Lakehead's Brock McPherson (14 points).
"Our series against Toronto will be another tough series," says Thunderwolves head coach Joel Scherban. "Toronto is playing very well as of late and has been receiving outstanding goaltending."
A free webcast of both contests will be available by visiting www.thunderwolveshockey.com and clicking on the link posted on the home page.
Head to Head
The Thunderwolves and the Varsity Blues have met just twelve times all-time, with Lakehead building an 8-2-2 record against their OUA East adversaries. Lakehead also holds a large 63-39 goal-scoring advantage.
The last meeting between these two teams was February 8, 2008 when the Thunderwolves beat the Varsity Blues 5-2 at the Varsity Arena in Toronto.
Lakehead Thunderwolves
With 52 OUA regular season goals, the Wolves lead their conference in scoring and have tallied twelve more times that their nearest offensive rival, the Nipissing Lakers. Those 5.2 goals for per game have come in handy as the team has looked to steady their defensive effort.
Brock McPherson leads the Wolves in scoring with eight goals and 11 assists for 19 points after another productive weekend against Laurier. He will need to set the tone against a tough Blues squad that has had solid production at the goaltending position.
Freshman forward Victor Anilane has continued his fine play as of late and has seven goals and seven assists for 14 points. He is tied with fifth-year senior Dan Speer (four goals, ten assists) for second on the team in scoring.
With identical numbers including seven goals, six assists and 13 points, Scott Dobben and Kris Hogg have continued to cause chaos for opposing goaltenders in recent games and will be key players against Toronto.
Forward Andy Hyvarinen has been a strong playmaker for the Wolves with eight assists to go with one goal, while Mark Soares (four goals, six assists) and Adam Sergerie (five goals, six assists) have also been key cogs for the offence.
On the blueline, Pierre-Marc Guilbault has been tremendous and leads all OUA defensemen with six goals. The junior also has three assists for nine points.
After a huge start, Ryan Baird has cooled off in recent series but has two goals and six assists on the year. Mitch Maunu has look strong with one goal and five assists while Kalvin Sagert added to his scoring mark versus Laurier and now has two goals and four assists.
Andy Zulyniak (six assists) and captain Jordan Smith (one goal, four assists) have been excellent two-way contributors all season and will aim to continue their steady play against the Blues.
In net, junior Kyle Moir has built a 7-3-0 record and will be counted on to make timely stops against Toronto's top guns. He is backed up by freshman Alex Dupuis who is 1-0-1.
Toronto Varsity Blues
Limited to just 26 goals in 10 games, the Varsity Blues haven't been an elite attacking squad this season but anchored by league scoring leader, Byron Elliott, Toronto does have the ability to light the lamp. Elliott has five goals and 10 assists for 15 points and will be a dangerous player at left wing against the Wolves.
Center Robert Kay has also been a factor for the Blues with five goals and six assists, while David Mooney has three goals and six assists on the wing.
On the blueline, Ed Snetsinger is Toronto's biggest threat with three goals and two assists, but he has been limited to six games this season.
Goaltending has easily been the Varsity Blues' strongest area throughout the 2009-10 season. Andrew Martin will play the most minutes and with a 4-2 record, a 2.13 GAA and a 0.940 SV%, he has been arguably the top netminder in the OUA. Backing up Martin will be Russ Brownell who has also been solid despite his 1-2 record in posting a 0.904 SV%.