Three weeks after being humbled in a two game sweep at Western, the Lakehead Thunderwolves mens hockey team will look to return the favour as they host the first place Mustangs in Friday and Saturday night games at the Fort William Gardens in Thunder Bay, Ontario. The puck drops at 7:30 p.m. EST both nights.
Lakehead (15-5-2) sits four points back of Western (18-4-0) in the tough OUA West Division and is coming off impressive weekend road wins over the Brock Badgers and the Laurier Golden Hawks by combined 6-1 scores. The Thunderwolves will need that same defensive effort to shut down Westerns third ranked OUA offence.
Both games will be streamed live on UStream.com with Rock 94 sports director Bryan Wyatt handling the play-by-play.
Head to head
Regular season play between these two fierce rivals has traditionally favoured Western, who hold a 10-23-1 record against the Thunderwolves, 18-29-1 including playoffs. Lakehead will look to put a dent in that all-time deficit this weekend as they try to avenge their two losses earlier this month at Western during which the Wolves were outscored 15-5.
Western has scored more goals (136) in regular season play than any other team against the Thunderwolves, while Lakehead has generated fewer regular season goals (83) against Western than any of their former Far West Division rivals.
Lakehead Thunderwolves
Coach Scherbans team has showed an improved commitment to defence in recent games, having allowed just three goals in their past three games. Special teams has been a key factor in their recent success at both ends of the rink as Thunderwolves opponents have gone just 1-18 on the powerplay while LU has gone 5-20 on the man advantage during that span.
Fifth-year senior Dan Speer (Thunder Bay) has also stepped up his play of late. A healthy scratch two weekends ago in LUs Friday night game against Windsor, the former OUA scoring champion has three goals and three assists since and is third on the team in scoring with five goals, 20 assists.
Also stepping up has been senior Brock McPherson (Brampton, Ontario) who returned last weekend following a brief two-game absence after sustaining a lower body injury during Lakeheads last series with Western. The Thunderwolves leading scorer with 14 goals, 15 assists, McPherson has three helpers in the past three games.
Midseason freshmen recruits Matt Caria (Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario), Matt Dias (Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario) and Ryan McDonald (Prince Albert, Saskatchewan) have all established themselves as impact players after one month in the lineup. Caria has built a six-game point streak since starting conference play with three goals and eight assists during that span while Dias and McDonald both have six points with the team.
Always steady, fifth-year senior Scott Dobben (Drayton, Ontario) is tied with Speer for second on the team with 25 points (11 goals, 14 assists) while junior Kris Hogg (Sicamous, British Columbia) has been particularly effective at home and should be a factor on both ends of the rink against the Stangs.
Senior Mark Soares (Burnaby, British Columbia), fifth-year senior Shandor Alphonso (Orangeville, Ontario) and freshman Victor Anilane (Gothenburg, Sweden) round out a deep contingent of Wolves forward who are expected to contribute on a nightly basis.
Junior blueliner Pierre-Marc Guilbault (St. Julie, Quebec) is tied with McPherson for the Wolves lead with six powerplay goals on the year and has nine overall tops among OUA defensemen. Guilbault is also the only Thunderwolves regular without a penalty minute in 2009-10. Fellow junior Mitch Maunu (Thunder Bay) has given the Wolves a sound blend of physicality and offensive ability with 3 goals, 8 assists.
The defensive pairing of junior Ryan Baird (Thunder Bay) and senior captain Jordan Smith (Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario) has been an effective one for Lakehead. Baird, an excellent puck-mover has three goals and eight assists in conference play while heavy-hitter Smith has seven points while continuing to make opposing players pay along the boards.
Senior Andy Zulyniak (Winnipeg) and sophomore Kalvin Sagert (Abbotsford, British Columbia) complete a talented defensive core that will look to keep the Stangs in check. Both Zulyniak and Sagert have 10 points on the year.
In net, junior Kyle Moir (Calgary) is on a role coming off his third shutout of the season, a 4-0 win last Sunday at Laurier. Lakeheads third all-time winningest goalie has steadily improved his stats in the past two weeks and now has a 13-4-1 record with a 2.95 GAA and a 0.901 SV%. Freshman Alex Dupuis (Thunder Bay) will serve as the backup.
Western Mustangs
Head coach Clarke Singer picked up his 250th CIS win, January 16 against the York Lions and has added another win to that total the fourth most wins among active CIS coaches. Western has slowed down their torrid winning pace of late, however, having lost two of four since the Lakehead series and ending a 16-game conference winning streak earlier this month against UOIT.
The Stangs will look to preserve their divisional lead, bolstered by sophomore offensive studs Keaton Turkiewicz (Brantford, Ontario) and Aaron Snow (Windsor, Ontario). The wingers are tied for second in OUA scoring with 37 points. Turkiewicz is tied for first in conference goal-scoring with 19 tallies, adding 18 assists while Snow has 11 goals and 26 assists.
Centre Kevin Baker (Georgetown, Ontario) gives UWO another elite scoring threat with 13 goals, 15 assists while left winger Patrick Ouellet has five of his seven goals on the powerplay.
D-Man Geoff Killing (Embro, Ontario) is Westerns answer to Pierre-Marc Guilbault as the sophomore has eight goals and eight assists. Scott Aarssen (London, Ontario) is a talented playmaker on the back lines and matches Killings 16 points with two goals and 14 assists. Scoreless through 22 games, Ryan Martinelli (London, Ontario) is nevertheless an offensive player to watch for with 15 assists.
With sophomore Anthony Grieco (Brampton, Ontario) out indefinitely with a lower body injury, the Mustangs have used a combination of netminders in relief. The results have been inconsistent with all four of Westerns loses coming at the expense of junior Keyvan Hunt (Coquitlam, British Columbia) and freshman Josh Unice (Holland, Ohio). Hunt, is 9-2 on the year with a 3.21 GAA and a 0.887 SV%. Unice, a former member of the USA Junior National team is a rocky 1-2 in his first three games with the Stangs with a 4.66 GAA and a 0.864 SV %.