The Lakehead Thunderwolves prepare for a busy Thanksgiving weekend that will see them play three games in four days. On Friday, Lakehead travels to Houghton, Michigan to take on the Michigan Tech Huskies of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA), the toughest conference in NCAA Division I hockey. This game will be the first of three that the two teams will play against each other this season as Michigan Tech will visit Thunder Bay for two games on Dec. 17th and 18th. The 'Wolves will then return to Thunder Bay on Saturday and get ready to host the St. FX X-Men, the defending CIS Champions, on Sunday and Thanksgiving Monday in two non-conference games.
MICHIGAN TECH HUSKIES
The Thunderwolves head into Tech's John J. MacInnes Student Ice Arena with a 4-1 record in non-conference play while this will be the season opener for the Huskies and will kick off their annual homecoming weekend. This will be the first ever meeting between the Thunderwolves and Michigan Tech.
Lakehead Head Coach Pete Belliveau is approaching the game against the speedy Huskies as a good early measuring stick for his team. "We will be playing a very good team in the Huskies. They have a very fit team, with plenty of speed to burn, so we will have a great challenge to play at their level for three solid periods. They also have an excellent powerplay, so we must adjust to the NCAA style of officiating quickly or we will be in the box often and we could get burned."
Lakehead will be counting on team captain and three-time OUA First Team All-Star Joel Scherban and CIS All-Canadian and last season's team scoring leader Jeff Richards to lead the way against Tech. The 'Wolves will also count on rugged two-way forward Chris Shaffer, defenseman Erik Lodge, and goaltender Grant McCune in the cross-border matchup. Coach Belliveau will also get to see how his first year players like Drew Kivell, Andrew Brown, Sean Stefanski, and Dene Poulin fare against a tough WCHA opponent.
Michigan Tech is coming off a tough season last year that saw them place 10th in the 10-team WCHA with a 8-25-5 record. However, the Huskies are young and should have a better season this year with the likes of Pre-Season All-American pick Junior Chris Conner (Westland, Mich.) and Team Captain Colin Murphy, a Senior from Calgary, Alberta. Conner scored 25 goals and 14 assists last season to lead the Huskies while Murphy was second with 15 goals and 17 assists. Junior Taggart Desmet (Strathmore, AB) (12 goals and 14 assists last season) is also a scoring threat and he led the Huskies last season in power play goals with seven. Senior goaltender Cam Ellsworth (Leamington, Ont.) is back between the pipes for the Huskies.
Second year Tech Head Coach Jamie Russell said his team can't wait to begin the season. "I am excited for this Friday's game as it is our first game of the year. Lakehead has an extremely good reputation as an outstanding hockey school and we will certainly have our hands full. We have a very young team and we're looking forward to a great game Friday and three very competitive games with Lakehead this year."
Michigan Tech will broadcast the game on the internet via their broadcast partner, WKMJ radio, 93.5 FM in Houghton/Hancock, Michigan. Lakehead fans can listen to the game by going to the Michigan Tech Athletics website by clicking here. You will need to download RealPlayer to hear the broadcast. Game time is 7:05 pm EST Friday night.