Lakehead Captain Joel Scherbans two goals led his No. 6 Thunderwolves to a historic 4-2 win over the Guelph Gryphons Sunday in Guelph. Historic because it gave Head Coach Pete Belliveau his 97th win in his fourth season behind the Lakehead bench; giving him the most wins in Lakehead hockey coaching history. With the win, Belliveau passed Lakehead Norwester Head Coach Hank Akervals mark of 96 wins set in five seasons in the late 1960s and early 70s. Belliveau now has a Lakehead coaching mark of 97-53-10.
The Thunderwolves OUA record goes to 13-6-1 OUA (21-14-2-1 overall) while Guelphs OUA mark now stands at 6-9-4-1 (7-12-4-1 overall). The win keeps Lakehead in the thick of the battle for playoff positioning in the OUA Far West Division, putting Lakehead in a tie for first with Western with 27 points; three points ahead of Waterloo.
It was a hard fought game at the Gryphons Centre but, unlike Saturdays 4-4 game, this day Lakehead took the lead and kept it for the duration. Guelph closed the gap to 3-2 late in the third and pulled their goalie to try to get the equalizer but Scherban put the game away with an empty net goal.
Lakeheads other goals came from Peter Cava and Murray Magill. Jeff Richards and Austin Wycisk each had two assists. Guelphs scoring came from Ian Staal and Steve Morris. Guelph netminder Ken Ritson was again excellent; coming up with a lot of spectacular stops. Lakehead outshot Guelph 40-26 in the game.
Lakehead takes to the ice next weekend back home at the Fort William Gardens in Thunder Bay when they welcome the Brock Badgers for a two game series. Saturdays game against Brock will also be historic as it will be the first Lakehead hockey home game to ever be televised. The game will be televised by Thunder Bay station TBT-CTV.
Scoring Summary:
First Period:
1) Lakehead: 5:08 Scherban, from Wycisk and Mike Self
Second Period:
2) Lakehead: 4:57 Cava from Richards and Dene Poulin
3) Guelph: 8:57 Staal from J.D. McFarlane
Third Period:
4) Lakehead: 11:57 Magill from Cava and Jounni Kuokkanen
5) Guelph (PP): 17:35 Morris from Jamie Lovell and Scott Rozendal
6) Lakehead: 19:40 Scherban from Richards and Wycisk