The No. 3 Lakehead Thunderwolves open OUA Semi Final playoff action on the road Wednesday at the Seymour-Hannah Centre in St. Catharines as they will challenge the formidable Brock Badgers in the best-of-three series; with the winner having the right to play for the Queens Cup and a guaranteed trip to the CIS National Championships. Game time Wednesday is 7:30 pm EST (LIVE AUDIOWEBCAST)with Game Two set for the Fort William Gardens in Thunder Bay Friday night at 7:30 pm EST; with Game Three, if necessary, going at the Gardens on Saturday at 7:30 pm EST.
Wednesdays game will be broadcast live on CKPR 91.5 FM radio in Thunder Bay with Bryan Wyatt calling the action live and Jonas Gilbart handling the pre-game and intermission show duties. Special thanks to Roy Teniuk and the Lakehead Multimedia Department for arranging the extra audio feeds of the CKPR audiocast for our Lakehead and Brock out of town fans and to CKPR for giving permission to carry their audio feed. Saturdays game (and Sundays if necessary) from Thunder Bay will also be broadcast on CKPR as well as videowebcast live with ordering info available at http://events.news-cast.com/events/Lakehead. Viewers will need hi speed internet and Windows Media Player to watch the broadcasts.
Lakehead ended regular season play with a 23-4-1 OUA record (2-1 OUA playoffs); tops in the OUA West and the OUA conference (25-5-1 OUA overall). The Wolves then had the bye week in the OUA first round playoffs and then met the very tough Laurier Golden Hawks in OUA second round action. The Wolves lost Game 1 on the road in Waterloo by a 5-4 decision; then, led by the strong goaltending of Chris Whitley, defeated the Hawks twice in Thunder Bay (3-2, 7-3) to take the series
Brock, the OUA Mid West Division champions, had a 17-8-3 OUA regular season record (2-1 OUA playoffs; 19-9-3 OUA overall) and also had a first round playoff bye. Then they met up with the powerful No. 8 Western Mustangs in OUA second round action and had a barn burner of a series. Game 1 was played in St. Catharines and the Stangs skated to a 3-2 road win; it looked like trouble for the Badgers. However, they played an excellent game on the road in London to take Game 2 by a 4-3 score in OT. Game 3 went back to St. Kitts and the see saw game saw both teams come back from two goal deficits but it was the Badgers who finally prevailed 6-5 in OT to take the series and move on.
Lakehead Head Coach Don McKee said the series will be a huge test for his squad. Brock is an extremely well coached hockey club and Coach Nystrom continues to build a program that receives national recognition in the Top Ten throughout the year. They have won games this year with outstanding goaltending, strong defense, and some very talented offensive players; led by Ryan Del Monte and JJ Martin. The week bye for both teams seemed to be the key in winning their quarter-final-series. We are excited about moving one step closer to the Queens Cup but recognize that Brock is the biggest challenge we will meet on this journey.
Brock Head Coach Murray Nystrom, a Thunder Bay native, said his team is eagerly looking forward to the series. We are looking forward to this playoff series with Lakehead. Both teams appear to be playing their best and that should make for some outstanding hockey.
Lakehead led the OUA in goals for with 128 while Brock was ninth with 94. Lakehead was tied for third in the conference in goals allowed with 68 while Brock was seventh with 84.
Head To Head:
The Wolves have an all-time mark of 10 wins, 1 tie, and 3 losses against the Badgers; all regular season games. Lakehead outscored Brock 65-36 in those 13 games. The two teams met in Thunder Bay in November and split the series; with the<