The Lakehead Thunderwolves host the No. 7 Laurier Golden Hawks this Friday and Saturday night at the Fort William Gardens in Thunder Bay in a crucial series as the Wolves battle for valuable OUA West points. Both games go at 7:30 pm EST and will be videowebcast live with ordering info available at www.thunderwolveshockey.com with Alan Wickware calling all the action.
Lakehead enters the weekend hungry for points and are coming off two away losses last weekend against the Western Mustangs in London. Lakehead has a 12-7-2-1 OUA record; good for 27 points and third place in the OUA Far West Division. More importantly; they are fourth overall in the OUA West but only 2 points ahead of fifth place York and 4 points ahead of sixth place Brock. The OUA Far West and Mid West Division winners, plus the teams with the next four best records, qualify for the playoffs in the OUA West.
Laurier has a 16-5-1 OUA mark and are in first place in the OUA Mid West Division with 33 points, and are second overall in the OUA (and overall OUA West) behind Waterloo. The Hawks are coming off a win over York and a tight OT win over Guelph.
Lakehead Head Coach Pete Belliveau said his team will have to give 100% effort both games this weekend. We are playing one of the top teams in the OUA and the same team who defeated us during the T BAY TEL Varsity Cup. The Golden Hawks are a fast team with deadly snipers, deep in goal, and a very reliable defensive corps. Coach Nobes has them playing a very aggressive game and they are always on the puck. We are crossing a tough part of our season and we have been snake bitten with our scoring chances recently. We need to play hard for 60 minutes and play desperate defensive hockey.
Lakehead is tied for fourth in the CIS in goals for at 4.4 while Laurier is third with 4.5 per game. Lakehead is ninth in the CIS in goals against with 3.3 while Laurier is eight with 3.2 per game.
Head to Head:
Lakehead is 11-5 against Laurier all time; 7-3 in OUA regular season games, 2-1 in non-conference games, and 2-1 in playoff games. The Wolves have outscored the Hawks 68-41 in those 16 previous games. However, Laurier defeated Lakehead 4-3 this season at the Wolves T Bay Tel Varsity Cup on Dec. 29th; a game that saw Laurier netminder Jeff MacDougald play an excellent game.
Lakehead Thunderwolves:
The Thunderwolves are in a must win situation against a very tough opponent. They will really have to improve upon their team defense and goaltending and supporting the goaltenders this weekend if they want to get wins against the Hawks.
Lakehead will also need to score and they will look for offense from Captain Jeff Richards (11 goals, 9 assists), Tobias Whelan (13 goals, 23 assists for 36 points; tied 2nd OUA and CIS), and freshman Mark Soares (15 goals, 12 assists; tied 8th in OUA).
The Wolves will also need scoring from Mike Wehrstedt (8 goals, 7 assists), Dan Speer (7 goals, 12 assists), Richard Molenaar (6 goals, 10 assists), as well as from Andrew Brown, Matt Maissoneuve, Shandor Alphonso, Brad Priestlay, and Brock McPherson.
Lakehead is getting scoring from the blue line; led by Matt Jacques (6 goals, 13 assists) and Steve Rawski (2 goals, 14 assists). Newcomer Andy Zulyniak has four points in four OUA games and is coming along as a playmaker. As a unit, they, along with Jordan Smith, Mike Self, Drew Kivell, Jarryd Brend, and Dan Rogers, have to keep the front of the Lakehead goal clear and cut down on rebound opportunities this weekend.
Lakehead netminder Chris Whitley (10-6-2; GAA 3.43; SV%.900) had a tough series in London last weekend against the Stangs. However, Whitley is an excellent goaltender and he can rebound to his normal stellar form and this will need to happen against a very tough Laurier team.
Backups Matti Korhonen (1-0, GAA 3.10; SV%.880) and Matt Iorr