The No. 4 Lakehead Thunderwolves mens hockey team finishes regular season play with another tough three-games-in-three-days road trip that will see them play the Toronto Varsity Blues Friday night in Toronto at Varsity Arena and the No. 7 Western Mustangs in London on Saturday night at the John Labatt Centreand Sunday afternoon at the Thomson Arena on the Western Campus.
The Wolves enter the weekend with a 21-3-1 OUA mark in conference play (25-7-1 overall); good for 43 points; presently the best record in the OUA. Lakehead has already clinched first place in the OUA Far West and a first round playoff bye with Westerns OT loss to Waterloo Tuesday night. Lakehead also lays claim to home ice advantage throughout the OUA West playoffs as they will end regular season play with the best record in the OUA West. They still have a chance to end the season with the best record in the OUA; a feat they have never accomplished in their previous six seasons.
Toronto (13-12-1 OUA) is in a battle for the OUA Mid East Division title with Queens (12-12-3 OUA); with both teams sitting presently at 27 points but Toronto has a game in hand on the Golden Gaels. Western (17-4-5: 39 points) will finish second to Lakehead in the OUA Far West Division. Lakehead lays claim to the OUA Far West title because, even if Lakehead would lose to Toronto and lose both to Western, which would give both the Wolves and Stangs 43 points; Lakehead would still clinch the division because of more wins.
Lakehead is coming off a very tough home sweep over the Laurier Golden Hawks. Toronto beat RMC last weekend in Toronto while Western lost in OT Waterloo Tuesday night and defeated Windsor last weekend.
The Wolves are first in the conference in goals for with 118 while Toronto is 11th with 84 and Western is third with 103. Lakehead is second in the conference in goals allowed with 61 while Toronto is 6th with 76 and Western is tied for third with 62.
Lakehead is riding a nine-game uninterrupted OUA regular season winning streak (team record) and a win against Toronto would tie the OUA regular season consecutive win streak set in 02-03.
Lakehead will need to come out hard when they take on the Blues on Friday. Toronto will be hungry for a huge home win as they battle for a divisional title. Lakeheads defense and goaltending will be key this weekend against the dangerous Mustangs quick transition offense and the Wolves will need strong and constant back-checking from their forwards as well as look to counter-attack quickly; without getting caught. The Wolves will also need to convert their scoring opportunities against the Stangs stingy defense and talented goaltenders.
Lakehead Head Coach Don McKee said his team knows it is facing two hungry opponents. The focus for the Wolves has shifted from Laurier to the Toronto
Blues and the Western Mustangs. This is going to be a challenging and tough weekend of hockey. Winning a big game this weekend is very important for us; with the possibility of having the best record in the OUA. It will not be easy as Toronto is battling for their divisional title and Western wants to win at home and head into the playoffs on a positive note. We are optimistic that our strong play in January will carry forward into February to close out the 2007-08 regular season and head into the playoffs.
Fridays game in Toronto faces off at 7:30 pm EST, Saturdays game at the John Labatt Centrein London goes at 7:05 pm EST, and Sundays game at the Thomson Arenain London starts at 2:00 pm EST.
All three games can be heard live on CKPR 91.5 FM radio in Thunder Bay with Bryan Wyatt calling the action and Jonas Gilbart handling the pre-game and intermission duties (On the net at www.ckpr.com). Western campus radio station CHRW FM 94.9 in London will also be broadcasting the Wolves vs. Mustangs games li