The CIS No. 5 Lakehead Thunderwolves mens hockey team travels to Kington, Ontario this weekend to challenge the Queens Gaels as both teams begin the second half of OUA regular season play.
Lakehead enters the weekend with an 11-3-2 OUA record (17-6-2 overall); good for second place in the OUA Far West Division and third overall in the OUA behind UQTR and Laurier. The Wolves are coming off a tourney win at their own Varsity Cup tourney over the holiday break where they went 4-0 in four very tough games and scored two victories over No. 3 Saskatchewan and a win over No. 5 Laurier in tourney action. Lakehead is on an eight-game winning streak in combined play and have won eight of their last ten regular season games.
Queens is 6-9-2 in OUA play (8-12-2 overall) and are six points behind first place Toronto in the OUA Mid East Division. Queens has shown it can play with the best teams in the conference as they defeated No. 2 UQTR at home on Nov. 28th in a 2-1 OTS win.
Lakehead Head Coach Don McKee said he knows the Wolves will be up against a tough opponent. Queens is a team that is in a real battle for a playoff position. They are second in their division but fighting four other teams for a place in the East Division playoffs. They are a very strong defensive team with excellent goaltending that always gives them a chance to win. Our Varsity Cup tourney has left us with some injuries and we will need to be at our best to be successful against this improving program. Queens team is very well coached under Brett Gibson and is a threat to any team in the OUA.
Queens Coach Brett Gibson said his team is looking to play disciplined defensive hockey this weekend. We look forward to the challenge of playing one of the top ranked team's in the country. They are built to win a National Championship and we are going to have to be at our best to challenge them. In order to win, we will have to be very disciplined in all aspects of the game. We will have the same mentality we had when UQTR came into our rink. Keep the score low and play solid defence."
The games go Friday night at 7:30 pm and Saturday afternoon at 2:00 pm. Friday nights game can be heard live in Thunder Bay on Rock94 FM Radio (online at www.Rock94.com) with Bryan Wyatt calling the action. Queens Campus Radio CFRC will be broadcasting Saturday afternoons game and it can be heard live in the Kingston area on 101.9 FM and via their website at http://www.cfrc.ca/with CFRC's Tyler King calling the action live.
Head to Head:
The Wolves are 6-0 all time vs. the Gaels with all games being played in the regular season. Lakehead outscored Queens 63-9 in those six games. Lakehead is tied for fifth in CIS offense with 4.1 goals per game while Queens is last in the CIS with 1.8 goals per game. Lakehead is tied for fourth in goal allowed in the CIS with 2.5 per game while the stingy Gaels are right behind tied for sixth with 2.8 per game.
For Full Series Preview; CLICK HERE.
Pyatt Retires From Wolves
Lakehead Thunderwolves mens hockey and Head Coach Don McKee regretfully announce that Lakehead fifth-year senior forward Jesse Pyatt will not play for the Wolves.
After consulting with the Wolves medical staff; Jesse was advised not to return to competitive hockey. As a result, Jesse has made the decision to retire based on this advice.
McKee and his coaching staff fully support Jesse's decision. Coach McKee expressed the fact that Jesse is recognized at the university level as an elite hockey player and he will surely be missed.
However, at this time, the most important thing is for Jesse to have a full recovery. The Thunderwolves organization wishes Jesse the best in his future endeavours.