The Lakehead Thunderwolves will open OUA regular-season play this weekend against a familiar foe and West Division rival Waterloo Warriors. Game times are 7:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday night at the Fort William Gardens.
Last Time Out
The Thunderwolves opened up the 2010-11 season last weekend at home versus the Ottawa Gee Gees of the OUA East Division. The Wolves dominated both of the games, winning 6-0 Friday night and 7-2 on Saturday to sweep the weekend series. Lakeheads top line of Matt Caria, Ryan McDonald and Adam Sergerie was unstoppable, registering 16 points between them in the two games. Caria led the way with 7 points, Sergerie notched 5 and McDonald tallied 4 points. Caria was also selected as first star of the game on both Friday and Saturday nights. Alex Dupuis recorded the shutout in Fridays win.
Penalty Killing Lethal
The Wolves penalty killing unit is perfect so far this season, as Ottawa was unable to score on 12 power play opportunities last weekend.
Series History
The Thunderwolves lead the all-time series 24-12-2, but lost both games to the Warriors last season; 3-1 and 3-2 last October in Waterloo. As part of the new OUA West Division rotating schedule, the Warriors did not make a trip to Thunder Bay last season.
About the Warriors
The Warriors finished in second placed in the competitive OUA West Division last season, only one point behind the Western Ontario Mustangs, and one point ahead of the Thunderwolves. Waterloo has played four non-conference games this season, and has posted a 1-3 won-loss record against some tough competition. The Warriors lost 3-2 to Ontario Tech to start their season, and then were downed by the identical score against McGill. A 4-1 victory over Concordia game Waterloo its first win of the year; followed by a 6-0 loss at Miami, Ohio one of the top NCAA programs in the United States. The Warriors are led up front by winger Chris Ray, Waterloos top scorer last year with 41 points during the regular season. Steve Whitely is Waterloos top defenceman, and totaled 24 points in OUA play in 2009-10.
Scherbans Take
Lakehead Head Coach Joel Scherban knows that Waterloo will be a tougher test for his team this weekend. Waterloo once again has a talented and veteran team that will compete for the OUA West Division Championship and we are excited to test ourselves against them early in the OUA season, Scherban said. These two games will have a playoff atmosphere as the results will have an impact on the league standings at the end of the year and the determination of playoff seeding.