The No. 7 Lakehead Thunderwolves mens hockey team will face a huge challenge when they welcome the powerful No. 11 Brock Badgers to the Fort William Gardens this Friday and Saturday night.
Lakehead enters the weekend with an 11-3 OUA mark (12-6 overall); good for second place in the OUA Far West Division behind Western. Brock has an 11-3-2 OUA record and is in first position in the OUA Mid West Division.
The Wolves are coming off a tough away split with Guelph while Brock swept Windsor in a home and away series.
Lakehead Head Coach Don McKee said both teams know that this series is a very big one. These two games are as important as any games we have played this year. Brock has demonstrated in the first half of the season that they are a hockey team that can be considered the best in the western conference. It is critical to both the Wolves and the Badgers to try and enter the December break on a winning note which will help carry the momentum into the second half of the season.
Brock Head Coach Murray Nystrom said his squad is ready to play. We look forward to coming to Thunder Bay to close out the first half of our season. The Thunderwolves are always a tough opponent in the Fort William Gardens and I am sure the games will have a playoff feel to them."
Both games face off at 7:30 pm EST and both will be videowebcast live with ordering information available at http://events.news-cast.com/events/Lakehead. Alan Wickware will call all the action live with Lakehead Sports Information Director Mike Aylward adding colour.
Head to Head:
The Wolves have an all-time mark of 9 wins, 1 tie, and 2 losses against the Badgers; all regular season games. Lakehead outscored Brock 56-29 in those 11 games.
Team GF/GA Comparison:
Lakehead - 55/34. +21. Lakehead has played 14 games coming into this weekend.
Brock 57/44. +13. Brock has played 16 games coming into this weekend.
Lakehead Thunderwolves:
The Thunderwolves came off a tough opponent in Guelph and will need to play even better hockey against the hard digging Badgers from Brock.
They will first look to leadership from senior netminder Chris Whitley who has a perfect 8-0 OUA record, GAA of 1.99, and SV% of .934 (all categories among the Top 2 or 3 in OUA and CIS). His play could dictate the Wolves success as that of the defensive corps. Kyle Moir also is playing well in goal and has a 3-3 record in OUA play for the Wolves.
The D-Corps continues to make strides and will count on leadership from Jordan C. Smith (3 goals, 6 assists), and Pierre-Marc Guilbault. Veteran Drew Kivell and freshman Mitch Maunu will have to keep the Lakehead goal area clear for their goaltenders. Andy Zulyniak or Jordan B. Smith could be counted on for offense from the back against the Badgers.
Dan Speer continues his hot scoring and now has 8 goals and 11 assists; good for an 8th place tie in OUA scoring. Line-mate Brock McPherson has 9 goals and 7 assists (tied 11th OUA) while Mark Soares has 3 goals and 12 assists. Their play will be crucial this weekend.
Tobias Whelan (3 goals, 11 assists), Andrew Brown (9 goals, 3 assists), and Kriss Hogg (6 goals, 7 assists) will also need to be a cohesive two-way force aganst the Badgers.
Lakehead will need strong weekends from forwards like Shandor Alphonso (4 goals, 2 assists), Matt Maisonneuve (4 assists), Mike Wehrstedt (2 goals, 1 assist), Richard Molenaar (2 goals, 2 assist), and Brad Priestlay (1 goal, 2 assists). These players are all playing well defensively but need to supply a little more offense. Perhaps Coach McKee will look to find it from players like Devin Welsh and Nathan Breukelmen.
Lakehead 07-08 Results:
Nov. 24, 2007: Guelph 3 Lakehead 2
Nov. 23, 2007: Lakehead<