The No. 6 Lakehead Thunderwolves begin the OUA regular season campaign on the road as they take on the Waterloo Warriors on Friday night and Saturday afternoon at the Columbia Icefields Arena in Waterloo. Lakehead goes into the series with a 6-3-1 non-conference record while Waterloo has a 4-2-0 non-conference record, which includes a win over No. 5 York. Lakehead is 13-0-1 against Waterloo in three seasons of OUA regular season and post season play, but most of those games were very tough and hard-fought affairs.
Game times are 7:30 pm Friday night and 2:00 pm Saturday afternoon at the Columbia Icefields arena. Lakehead fans in Thunder Bay can listen to the live play-by-play of Chris Prystanski and Bryan Wyatt on 580 CKPR AM radio, and fans of both teams can listen online at www.ckpr.com. This weekend's two-game series is part of Waterloo's annual Homecoming weekend celebrations.
The Thunderwolves played some good hockey in the pre-season, but also look to find more consistent defensive play against the tough Warriors. The 'Wolves will hope for more strong play from the line of Peter Cava, Murray Magill, and Sean Stefanski; who were very sharp in the pre-season. Lakehead will also look to the return to form of their top line of Joel Scherban, Jeff Richards, and Chris Shaffer. Defensively, there have been a lot of changes for Lakehead due to injuries and the 'Wolves will be counting on fourth year d-man Erik Lodge and second year man Steve Rawski to anchor the blue line. The 'Wolves will be counting on strong goaltending from fourth year OUA Second Team All-Star Grant McCune and rookie sensation Chris Whitley.
Head Coach Pete Belliveau said it looks like it will be a tough weekend of hockey at the Icefields. "We are looking forward to playing the retooled Warrior team. Coach Taylor has done an excellent recruiting job in making his team so much better and his pre-season results show how much they have improved. We will be in a real good old-fashioned battle this weekend as they have recruited very well to suit their rink. Our division has now become a very tough place to earn valuable points. We tip our hat to Coach Taylor and his staff!"
The Warriors begin the season with a big strong team that proved in the pre-season that it can play with the best. Waterloo Head Coach Karl Taylor said playing Lakehead will be a good test for his squad. "Once again Lakehead looks to be the class of our league. With 12 first-year and four second second-year players in our line-up, we will learn by doing and through our mistakes. We are in Year Two of our rebuilding process and we are excited to have the opportunity to play a top team in Canada to open our season."
Players to watch on the Warriors are fifth year Captain Chris Hopiavuori who is a wall on defense along with big 6'5" Mike Clarke. Forwards Adam Metherel, Kevin Hurley, and Mathew Iannetta give the Warriors scoring punch. The Warriors had a very strong recruiting class including ex-USA National Jr Team netminder Nick Pannoni, 6'5" d-man Alex Macdonell from the Kitchener Rangers, forward Shawn Germain from the Hawksbury Hawks, and forward Dave Philpott from the Yarmouth Mariners, 6'6" d-man Dustin Bauer from the Olds Grizzlies, and goaltender Curtis Darling from the Chilliwack Chiefs.