The No. 8 Western Mustangs silenced a standing room only crowd of 3738 fans at the Fort William Gardens in Thunder bay as the Mustangs posted a convincing 5-0 win over the hometown No. 5 Lakehead Thunderwolves. The win makes Saturday's rematch very crucial, as the winner of the game will capture the OUA Far West Division title and get a first round playoff bye. The win puts Western's record at 16-6-0-1 (21-11-0-1 overall) while Lakehead's record goes to 15-7-1 in OUA play (23-15-2-1 overall).
The Mustangs generally had the edge in play and when Lakehead put on the pressure; Mike D'Alessandro stood tall in the Western goal to post the shutout. The Mustangs opened a 3-0 first period lead and the Wolves just couldn't seem to find the spark to get back in the game before their bighome crowd. Western outshot Lakehead 44-35 on the night.
Western's scoring came from Chris Rowan, Mike McKeown, Ryan Held, Ryan Hare, and Mike Rice. The two teams face off again Saturday afternoon at 2:00 pm EST and the game will be televised live and in its entirety by Thunder Bay Television-CTV Channel 4, Cable 6 and Bell Express Vu Channel 222 locally in Thunder Bay, and nationally on Channel 314 on Star Choice Satellite television. TBT's Bryan Wyatt and Chris Prystanski will be calling all the action on TBT-CTV.
Portions of the game will be carried live by TSN as part of their "Hockey Lives Here" special being broadcast on Saturday from 12 Noon to 6 pm EST. Dave Randorf will call the TSN play by play and Gary Green will do colour commentary. As well, TSN will be presenting interviews and features on the unique Thunderwolves hockey program and its' on and off ice success in less than four seasons of play.