Lakehead hosts Concordia in last home games before Christmas

The Lakehead Thunderwolves hockey team will host the Concordia Stingers for a two-game series at the Fort William Gardens this weekend with game times set for 7:30 pm on Friday and Saturday nights. This series will be Lakeheads last home games before Christmas, as the Wolves will hit the road the following two weekends to finish out the fall-term portion of the schedule

Teddy Bear Toss

Friday night is the annual L.U. Alumni Teddy Bear Toss, where fans can bring a new teddy bear to the game and throw it onto the ice when the Wolves score their first goal. All teddy bears collected will be donated to several local childrens charities.

Last Time Out

Lakehead travelled to Sudbury last Thursday and Friday for a pair of games with the Laurentian Voyageurs. The Wolves returned home with a series sweep, winning handily by scores of 7-1 and 4-1.

Lakehead now has on OUA record of 7-1-0, and are just two points behind Windsor for first place in the West Division with a game in hand.

Concordia dropped a pair of games at home last weekend, falling 6-4 to Laurier on Friday followed by a 5-2 loss to Waterloo on Saturday.

Nationally Ranked

Lakeheads sweep of Laurentian and 7-1 conference record was enough to impress voters to rank the Thunderwolves #8 in the latest CIS Hockey Top Ten Poll.

Series History

Lakehead and Concordia have only played each other twice, with those contests taking place in Montreal in November of 2010. The Thunderwolves swept that series easily, winning by scores of 11-2 and 7-4. This weekend will mark the first time the Stingers have ever visited the Fort William Gardens.

About the Stingers

Founded in 1974, Concordia University is located in Montreal, Quebec, and the Stingers play in the OUA East Division.

Concordia has an OUA record of 2-4-2 so far this season, and currently sit in seventh place in the ten-team East Division.

Concordia is led by Head Coach Kevin Figsby, now in his 14th season behind the Stingers bench.

Forwards Olivier Hinse, Jessyco Bernard and Dany Potvin are Concordias top scorers, while defencemen Sean Blunden and Gabriel Bourret are mainstays on the blue-line. Netminder Antonio Mastropietro has started every regular season game for the Stingers this season.

Injury Report

Forwards Jason Grecica (elbow), Brennan Menard (concussion), Carson Dubchak (knee) and Keith Grondin (shoulder) are all out of the line-up this weekend.

Goaltender Jeff Bosch will dress for the first time since injuring his knee at Minnesota-Duluth in early October, but his playing status is still day to day.