The Lakehead Thunderwolves hockey team will travel to Waterloo this weekend to complete the OUA regular season with a pair of games against the Warriors at the Columbia Ice Field. Game time is 7:30 both nights and can be heard live on Rock 94.3 FM.
Series History
Lakehead holds the all-time series lead over Waterloo with a record of 25-13-2 versus the Warriors. The two teams opened the OUA season this year in Thunder Bay on October 8th and 9th with a series split. Waterloo took the Friday game 5-4 in overtime, but Lakehead rebounded with a decisive 7-3 win on the Saturday night.
Last Time Out
The Thunderwolves split a home series with the York Lions last weekend, losing 4-2 on Friday, then coming back with a thrilling 7-6 overtime win Saturday night.
Waterloo only played one game last week, a 5-3 loss at Guelph.
About the Warriors
Waterloo currently sits in sixth-place in the OUA West Division with a record of 14-11-1, good for 29 points. The Division race is so tight, however, that the Warriors could move up to as high as second place or down to as low as eighth place by the end of the weekend depending on how things go around the league on Friday and Saturday.
Waterloos top forwards are Tyler Moir (brother of Lakehead goalie Kyle Moir), Chris Ray, and Jarrett Schnurr. On defence, they are led by Steve Whitely and Kyle Sonnenburg, while Keaton Hartigan is the Warriors number one goalie.
Playoff Picture Muddled
Lakehead is in third place in the West Division with a record of 15-9-2 and 32 points 3 points ahead of Waterloo going into the weekend. Depending on results in the league, the Wolves could move up to as high as second place or drop as to as low as fifth place by the end of Saturday night.
The Thunderwolves need either a win at Waterloo or a Guelph loss to guarantee it will have no lower than the fourth seed and home ice advantage for the first round of the playoffs.
Only one team (the first-place Western Ontario Mustangs) has confirmed their playoff seeding so far. Seeds 2 through 8 and first-round playoff matchups are all still to be determined by this weekends results.