The No. 4 Lakehead Thunderwolves travel to Guelph, Ontario to take on the Guelph Gryphons in a two-game series.. Lakehead is 13-5 in OUA play and 18-9-2 overall, good for second place in the OUA Far West Division. Guelph is 5-12-1 in OUA play and 7-16-1 overall, sitting in last place in the very competitive OUA Mid West Division, 3 points behind third place Brock for the final playoff position.
Lakehead Head Coach Pete Belliveau says Guelph will be a determined opponent. "We are playing a team that need the points for the playoffs so we will have to be at our best , as the Guelph coaching staff will have their squad ready and prepared to battle us all the way. We are looking forward to playing the Gryphons as we had an exciting series last season against them at the Gardens!"
Guelph Head Coach Jeff Reid says this series is crucial to his team's playoff hopes. "We know we're facing a strong hockey program. Our record doesn't really show how well we're capable of playing. Hopefully, we can put it all together this weekend and have a competitive series and come up with some points that we need to catch Brock".
Series History:
This will be the third and fourth meetings between the two teams. Last year the teams split their first two meetings, with Guelph outscoring Lakehead 10-8.
Previous Meetings:
January 26, 2002: Guelph 5 @ Wolves 2 (Loss)
January 25, 2002: Guelph 5 @ Wolves 6 (Win)
Series Notes:
- Guelph has 65 goals for and 87 against while Lakehead has 86 for and 45 against.
- Lakehead's leading scorers are Chris Shaffer (15 goals and 9 assists for 24 points), Bryan Duce (9 goals and 13 assists for 22 points), Joel Scherban (7 goals and 15 assists for 22 points), and Jason Lange (8 goals and 13 assists for 21 points).
- Guelph's leading scorers are Thunder Bay native Jesse Pyatt (8 goals and 13 assists for 21 points), Jamie Lovell (6 goals and 13 assists for 19 points) and Darrell Cowen (8 goals and 7 assists for 15 points).
- This weekend's series will have a strong Thunder Bay component. Lakehead features 11 starters from Thunder Bay while Guelph's Jesse Pyatt, Clayton Carson, and Ken Ritson all hail from Lakehead's home city.
The two teams take to the ice at the Gryphon Centre Arena on the Guelph campus Saturday night at 7:30 and Sunday afternoon at 2:00. Fans of the Thunderwolves can listen to the action live with Bryan Wyatt on 580 CKPR AM in Thunder Bay, and across Canada on the internet at www.ckpr.com
Guelph Team Preview:
For more information on the Guelph Gryphons, click here, and also check out their new team site by clicking here.
Guelph 2002-2003 Results:
Sat Jan 25 Guelph 7 Brock 1
Thu Jan 23 York 7 Guelph 4
Sat Jan 18 York 7 Guelph 2
Fri Jan 17 Brock 6 Guelph 3
Sat Jan 11 Laurier 5 Guelph 4 OT
Thu Jan 9 Guelph 5 Laurier 3
Sun Jan 5 Toronto 7 Guelph 1
Sat Dec 28 Guelph 5 Laurier 2 NC
Thu Nov 28 Ryerson 7 Guelph 4
Sun Nov 24 McGill 5 Guelph 3
Sat Nov 23 Ottawa 6 Guelph 1
Sun Nov 17 Concordia 4 Guelph 3
Sat Nov 16 UQTR 5 Guelph 2
Sun Nov 10 Guelph 8 Windsor 3
Sat Nov 9 Guelph 4 Windsor 4 TIE OT
Fri Nov 1 Western 7 Guelph 1
Thu Oct 31 Guelph 4 Waterloo 3
Sat Oct 26 Harvard 6 Guelph 2 EX
Fri Oct 24 Dartmouth 6 Guelph 0 EX
Sun Oct 20 Queen's 4 Guelph 1
Sat Oct 19 Guelph 8 RMC 3
Thu Oct 10 Waterloo 5 Guelph 4 NC
Sat Oct 5 Guelph 6 Windsor 3 NC SO Cons
Fri Oct 4 Ryerson 5 Guelph 4 NC
Historical Highlights
- CIAU (now CIS) National