The Lakehead Thunderwolves mens hockey team is on the road again this weekend as they will play the Ryerson Rams Friday night in Toronto and Saturday night in Orillia. Saturdays game is a special game to celebrate the opening of Lakeheads Orillia campus this year and was arranged with the kind cooperation of Ryerson who will be the home team for the game.
Lakehead enters the weekend with a 5-2-1 OUA record (7-5-1 overall)) after splitting with Guelph away last weekend. Lakehead is tied for first with Waterloo in the very competitive OUA Far West Division. Ryerson is 1-7 in conference play, is last in the OUA Mid East Division, and has a 1-9 overall mark. The Rams are coming off two tough losses to UQTR and Concordia so will look to rebound this weekend against the Wolves.
Game time Friday night in Toronto is 7:30 pm EST and Saturday in Orillia is 8:10 pm EST. Both games can be heard in Thunder Bay on 580 CKPR AM Radio and on the net at www.ckpr.com with Bryan Wyatt calling the play by play and Jonas Gilbart handling pre-game and intermissions.
Lakehead Head Coach Pete Belliveau said his team has to be on guard against an improving Rams squad. We are looking at playing at our top level of intensity for six periods and not let up; we again are facing a team who will be very motivated when the puck drops. We cannot take them lightly as they upset Ottawa earlier this season. We must play our high energy game and not take undisciplined penalties. Ryersons new coach (Graham Wise) is putting his touch on this program and they are starting to turn the corner and we must be ready to compete very hard for two games."
Head To Head:
The Thunderwolves are 4-0 against Ryerson and outscored Ryerson 26-4 in those four games.
Lakehead is tied for 7th in goals for in the CIS at 4.1 per game while Ryerson is averaging 1.6. Lakehead is tied for 6th in the CIS in goals allowed with 2.9 per game while Ryerson has allowed 5.9 per game.
Lakehead Thunderwolves:
Lakehead captain Jeff Richards (1 goal, 2 assists) returns to the lineup and his presence will be a big boost to the Wolves. Tobias Whelan continues his strong play and his 15 points (6 goals, 9 assists) are second in the OUA and are tied for fourth in the CIS.
Senior Mike Wehrstedt (4 goals, 3 assists) and junior Brad Priestlay (2 goals, 2 assists) both played well against Ryerson and their hustle will be key this weekend.
Lakeheads penalty kill continues to be very effective; led by forwards Matt Maissoneuve and Richard Molenaar.
Senior Mark Robinson (3 goals, 2 assists) was one of the teams best players against Guelph as was junior Andrew Brown (2 goals, 1 assist) who has been put back on defense due to Lakeheads shortage of d-men. Sophomores Dan Speer (2 goals, 5 assists) and Shandor Alphonso as well as freshman Nathan Breukelman will also need to make contributions to the Lakehead attack.
Freshmen Mark Soares (2 goals, 4 assists), Ryan Maunu, and Donnie Mitchell will need to contribute this weekend as well.
Defensively, Lakehad has played fairly well and the d-men are contributing offensively. Lakehead will need continued strong play from freshman Jarryd Brend (6 assists) and sophomore Dan Rogers (1 goal, 2 assists). Matt Jacques (4 goals, 3 assists) continues to play well both offensively and defensively.
Steve Rawski (1 goal, 6 assists) has also found some offense in his game this season and Drew Kivell will need to play careful defense