The Lakehead Thunderwolves will open the OUA playoffs at home against the Ryerson Rams in game #1 of the best-of-three West Division quarter finals Wednesday night at the Fort William Gardens, with the opening face-off set for 7:00 p.m.
The series will shift to the Mattamy Centre in Toronto for game #2 on Saturday night and if necessary, game #3 will go Sunday night on Ryerson's home ice.
The Records
Lakehead: 13-12-3 OUA, 29 points (7th place West Division)
Ryerson: 20-5-3 OUA, 42 points (2nd place West Division)
Series History
The Thunderwolves hold the edge in the all-time series versus Ryerson with a record of 14-10-0 against the Rams.
Lakehead split a two-game set with Ryerson in Toronto last November with each side getting a 3-2 win.
Recent Results
The Wolves collected three out of a possible four points to close out the regular season last weekend. After being edged 4-3 in overtime by Waterloo at the Gardens on Friday night, Lakehead replied with a 3-1 victory over the Warriors the following evening.
Ryerson won its last two games of the season, a 5-3 home win over York on Wednesday and a 4-3 overtime win at Windsor last Friday.
The Big Three
Three Thunderwolves finished the regular season among the top 20 OUA scoring leaders, with Daniel Del Paggio, Tomas Soustal and Josh Laframboise finishing 11th, 13th and 18th respectively.
About the Rams
The fifth-ranked team in the country, Ryerson has a pair of dynamic forwards in Matthew Santos and Matt Mistele, both of whom finished in the top ten in the OUA scoring race. Defenceman Gregory Di Tomaso adds a lot of offense from the back end as well.
Netminder Garrett Forrest wound up the regular season with a 2.44 goals-against average, one of the lowest in the league.