The No. 3 Lakehead Thunderwolves fly to Southern Ontario this weekend for three crucial OUA games against the Windsor Lancers and the Varsity Blues of Toronto. The games are crucial for Lakehead as they are in a deadlocked battle for first place in the OUA Far West Division with the No. 5 Western Mustangs. Both teams have 16 points, but Lakehead has a game in hand so every game is important for the playoff drive.
The Thunderwolves play divisional rivals Windsor in Windsor Friday night, then drive to Toronto for two games against the University of Toronto Blues on Saturday and Sunday. These will be the last three regular season games for Lakehead before the Christmas Break and their annual post-Christmas Bell Varsity Cup Tournament.
Thunderwolves' fans can catch all of this weekend's action live in Thunder Bay on 580 CKPR AM radio and across Canada via the internet at www.ckpr.com with all games starting at 7:30 p.m. EST.
Lakehead (8-1-0 OUA, 12-2-0 overall) swept RMC at home in Thunder Bay last weekend by scores of 12-2 and 5-2. Windsor (3-7-0 OUA, 3-12-0 overall) is coming off a split of their games against Queen's while Toronto (2-7-1 OUA, 2-10-1 overall) is coming off an incredible overtime loss to Western and a tight win over Waterloo. The Thunderwolves have a 13-0 record against the Lancers and a 2-1-1 record against Toronto in Lakehead's two and a half seasons in the OUA.
Lakehead has developed into a formidable yet balanced offensive force, getting goals from an incredible 18 players so far this season. The Thunderwolves' Jeff Richards, Joel Scherban, and Bryan Duce are all in the Top 10 in OUA scoring; Richards is third with 20 points, Scherban seventh with 16, and Duce tenth with 14. Chris Shaffer has also seen a return to form of his scoring touch, and is now at 11 points along with rookie sensation Michael Wehrstedt.
Lakehead's defensive corps is also scoring as well as playing a steadily improving defensive game. Rookie Steve Rawski is emerging as both an offensive threat and a potent defender on the Wolves' blue line while Erik Lodge, Tyler Williamson, and Mike Jacobsen have also been finding the net. The Thunderwolves can always count on their clutch goaltending duo of Grant McCune and Cory McEachran. All these factors have combined to see a steadily declining Lakehead G.A.A. over the past 6 games.
Lakehead leads the CIS in goals per game at 6.8 and are fifth at goals allowed per game at 2.6. Their winning margin of 4.2 goals per game leads the CIS while their winning percentage of .889 is second in the CIS. The Thunderwolves lead the OUA on the powerplay, scoring on 30.23% of their opportunities. The Pack is fourth in the conference on the penalty kill, successfully defending 90.74% of their pk situations.
Lakehead Head Coach Pete Belliveau said his team's second three-game road trip of the season will be a challenge. "We always have exciting games at the Adie Knox Arena vs. the Windsor Lancers; great ice, lots of hits, and exciting end-to-end action. This will be a great start to our weekend, and we know that Coach Stenlund will have his troops ready."
"We saw how the Blues nearly beat Western on the weekend and if they can score 8 goals against Western...they have our attention! This will be our team's first visit to The Blues' home at Varsity Arena and it should be a great series. I have fond memories of that rink; I won a National Championship there in 1995 vs Guelph (as coach of U de Moncton). It is a great rink with lots of tradition and we know how tough the Blues played us last season and they will have revenge on their mind because of last year's exciting bronze medal game that we won in triple overtime to qualify us as the OUA third team at the 2003 U