The No. 9 Lakehead Thunderwolves mens hockey team hosts the undefeated Brock Badgers this weekend for a crucial early season two-game set this Friday and Saturday night at the Fort William Gardens in Thunder Bay.
Lakehead enters the weekend with a 3-1 OUA record (5-4 overall) after sweeping Windsor at home last weekend. Lakehead is tied for first with Waterloo in the OUA Far West Division. The Badgers defeated Toronto and Ryerson at home last weekend. Brock is a perfect 4-0 in OUA play (the only undefeated OUA squad) and are in first place in the OUA Mid West Division and they are also 6-0 overall.
The Badgers lead the CIS in goal per game at 6.5 while Lakehead is 7th at 4.8. Lakehead is 7th in the CIS in goals allowed at 2.8 while Brock is 9th at 3 per game.
Games time both nights is 7:30 pm EST and the games will be videowebcast live with ordering information available at www.thunderwolveshockey.com with the pre-game starting at about 7:25 pm. Alan Wickare will be calling the play by play.
Lakehead Head Coach Pete Belliveau said Brock will be a big challenge for his squad. Coach Nystrom has done a great recruiting job and they have a very deep, balanced squad. We will have our work cut out for us and hard work will have to be our theme. This will be a very physical hard-fought series, but, discipline will be crucial."
Brock Head Coach Murray Nystrom, a Thunder Bay native, said his team is ready to play in the noisy confines of the Fort William Gardens. Playing in Thunder Bay is a challenge for any team in our conference and while we have not performed well there on our past visits; we look forward to performing well at the pro-like environment of the Gardens. It should be a great weekend of hockey.
Head To Head:
The Thunderwolves have an 8-0-2 record against Brock; all regular season meetings. The Wolves have outscored the Badgers 52-24 in those 10 games. However, the Badgers have been playing Lakehead very tough over the last two seasons and last year saw Lakehead win 3-2 in OT and 4-2 in two tough wins in St. Catharines.
Lakehead Thunderwolves:
Lakehead will be looking for offense and leadership from Tobias Whelan whose 12 points (4 goals, 8 assists OUA; 6 goals, 9 assists overall) in four games leads the OUA and is tied for the CIS lead. The Wolves are also hoping their captain Jeff Richards will be back in the lineup as his offense and leadership will be key this weekend. Richards (1 goal, 2 assists OUA; 6 goals, 5 assists overall) is listed as probable to play.
Lakehead played two very strong games against Windsor last weekend and the solid play came from throughout the roster. Due to the abundance of penalties in the new OUA; special teams play was key and Lakeheads power play unit shone (8 goals against Windsor) as did its PK play.
Forwards Matt Maissoneuve (1 assist OUA, 2 goals, 1 assist overall) and Richard Molenaar (1 assist) were forces of nature on the penalty kill and stymied the Lancers. Their play will be crucial this weekend.
Offensively, a very positive sign was the fact that Lakehead received scoring from all over the roster. Seven players scored in their 7-2 win and five players in their 6-3 wins over Windsor.
The line of Mike Wehrstedt (2 goals, 1 assists OUA), Brad Priestlay (1 goal, 1 assist), and Nathan Breukelman looked very good with the freshman Breukelman picking up a goal and two assists in limited shifts against Windsor. Dan Speer was dangerous and Andrew Brown and Mark Robinson were also effective.
Freshman Mark Soares (2 goals, 2 assists OUA) thrilled the Fort William Gardens crowds against Windsor with his dangerous rushes and flash moves and he should become a top scorer in the OUA. Freshman Ryan Maunu also looked good when he was on the ice.
The Lakehead defense looked very sharp against Win