The Lakehead Thunderwolves are on the road to Waterloo this weekend as they will challenge the Waterloo Warriors in two crucial OUA Far West Division games. The Thunderwolves, the Warriors, and the Western Mustangs are all in a close battle for first in the most competitive division in the OUA with the Windsor Lancers not too far behind.
Lakehead enters the weekend with an 8-3-1 OUA mark (12-6-3 overall) while Waterloo is 8-1-1 in OUA play and 10-5-1 overall. Lakehead is on a seven game unbeaten streak (6-0-1) while Waterloo is on a nine game unbeaten run (8-0-1).
Lakehead Head Coach Pete Belliveau said his team knows whats at stake this weekend. We will be playing our biggest series of the season; these are crucial Far West division points where we are in a three team race at the moment. Coach Bourque has not skipped a beat; he has taken the wheel from Coach Taylor and has his team playing playoff hockey. These two games will be playoff type and will determine what position we could finish at end of the regular season.
Waterloo Head Coach Brian Bourque said his team knows it will be a fantastic weekend of hockey at the Columbia Ice Fields Arena in Waterloo. We expect the weekend to be a great series. Lakehead is an excellent team with a lot of talent and with their recent success they are obviously playing very good hockey. Our team is based around hard work and effort and we are excited to see how we match up this weekend.
Head To Head:
The Thunderwolves are 14-3-1 against the Warriors; 12-3-1 in regular season and 2-0 in playoff action. However, Waterloo has become a divisional power over the past two seasons and the two teams split their four games last season. Lakehead has outscored Waterloo 81-54 in their 18 games.
Lakehead is 7th in the CIS in goals for with 4.1 per game while Waterloo is 10th at 3.9 per game. The Thunderwolves are 5th in the CIS in goals allowed with 2.3 per game while the Warriors are 11th with 3.1 per game.
Lakehead OUA Results:
Sat Nov 26 Lakehead 10 Toronto 0
Fri Nov 25 Lakehead 6 Toronto 4
Sat Nov 19 Lakehead 3 RMC 3 OT TIE
Fri Nov 18 Lakehead 3 RMC 1
Sat Nov 12 Lakehead 5 York 3
Fri Nov 11 Lakehead 6 York 1
Sat Nov 5 Lakehead 3 Laurier 0
Fri Nov 4 Laurier 5 Lakehead 2
Sat Oct 29 Lakehead 3 Windsor 1
Fri Oct 28 Lakehead 3 Windsor 2
Sat Oct 22 Windsor 2 Lakehead 1
Fri Oct 21 Windsor 5 Lakehead 4
Lakeheads All Canadians Jeff Richards and Captain Joel Scherban have picked up the offense to lead the Wolves. Richards has 8 goals and 11 assists (3rd OUA, 9th CIS) and also leads the CIS in points per game at 2.11 per game. Scherban has 8 goals and 9 assists; which is good for 4th in the OUA and 11th in the CIS. Line-mate Peter Cava is also scoring and has 3 goals and 8 assists.
More good news on the offensive front is that Seniors Jason Lange (4 goals, 7 assists) and Murray Magill (2 goals, 5 asssists) are clicking offensively. Senior Mark Robinson (5 goals, 3 assists) continues to play excellent two way hockey. Freshman Shandor Alphonso also is a two way threat and has a goal and three assists while fellow freshman Dan Speer has started to find the net and has 3 goals and 1 assist.
Mike Jacobsen leads the defensive corps offensively with 4 goals and 6 assists while All Canadian Erik Lodge (1 goal, 2 assists) is playing great defense. Drew Kivell is starting to show what he is capable of and now has 7 assists.
In Fridays 6-4 win over Toronto, the Wolves were pretty shaky as a whole defensively but they regrouped well to play much better team D in Saturdays 10-0 win. Against the Warriors, big d-men Hugo Lehoux, Mike Self, Steve Rawski, and Kris Calloway will have to play tough defense against the formidable and big Warriors.
In goal, the excellent Lakehead tandem of Grant McCune and Chris Whitley will have to be re