The Lakehead Thunderwolves will take on the Brock Badgers this weekend for a pair of games with playoff implications for both teams. The opening face-off is set for 7:00 p.m. at the Fort William Gardens on both Friday and Saturday nights.
The Records
Lakehead: 11-11-2 OUA, 24 points (7th place West Division)
Brock: 12-11-2 OUA, 26 points (5th place West Division)
Recent Results
The Thunderwolves had an up-and-down road trip last weekend that began with an 8-1 loss at Windsor on Friday evening, but Lakehead regrouped and defeated the Western Mustangs 3-2 in overtime the following night.
Brock played at York on Wednesday night, where the Badgers lost 3-1.
Playoff Push
Going into the second-to-last weekend of the regular season, the OUA West standings are once again tightly packed, particularly between 5th and 9th place.
With a sweep over Brock this weekend, the 7th place Thunderwolves could vault the 5th place Badgers and move up two spots in the standings.
Laurier, Western and Waterloo are also in that group of teams battling for playoff positioning, and one of them will be left out of the post-season as only the top 8 teams qualify.
Series History
Lakehead holds a decided edge in the all-time series with Brock with a record of 29-13-2 over the Badgers.
But Brock prevailed in the most recent meeting between the two teams that took place last January in St. Catharines, as the Badgers swept the weekend by scores of 3-1 and 6-2.
About the Badgers
Unlike most teams in the OUA, Brock’s scoring is done by committee, led by freshman defenceman Jordan Sambrook with 17 points in 25 league games.
Behind Sambrook, the Badgers have 8 different players with either 13, 14 or 15 points.
Compared to Lakehead’s top three scorers – Daniel Del Paggio, Tomas Soustal and Josh Laframboise with 29, 28 and 24 points in league play respectively – the Badgers are less explosive up front but perhaps a little deeper.
Mario Cavaliere is Brock’s number one goalie and has posted a 2.99 GAA along with a .898 SV% this season.