NOTE: Due to site problem; Thursday Game Story has been posted at www.thunderwolves.ca. It will be posted here as soon as problem is repaired.
The Lakehead Thunderwolves mens hockey team opens OUA West Semi Final playoff action on the road Thursday at theSun LifeArena in the Waterloo Recreation Complexin Waterloo as they take on the Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks in OUA West semifinal playoff best-of-three action. It should be a thrilling series as both teams played each other twice in Thunder Bay three weeks ago in a very exciting and hard fought two-game set. Thursdays game will face off at 7:30 pm EST in Waterloo and the game will be broadcast live on CKPR 91.5 FM in Thunder Bay ( for live CKPR audiocast) with Bryan Wyatt calling all the action live and Jonas Gilbart handling the pre-game and intermission show duties.
Game Two is set for the Fort William Gardens in Thunder Bay Saturday night at 7:30 pm EST; with Game Three, if necessary, going at the Gardens on Sunday night at 7:30 pm EST. Lakeheads home game(s) will be videowebcast live on News-castsports.com with Alan Wickware calling the play by play and Lakehead Sports Information Director Mike Aylward handling the colour. Ordering info is available at http://events.news-cast.com/events/Lakehead and viewers will need hi-speed internet and Windows Media Player to watch the vidcasts.
Lakehead ended regular season play with a 23-4-1 OUA record; tops in the OUA West and the OUA conference. Lakehead last saw action two weeks ago when they finished regular season play with one of their gruelling three-games-in-three-days road trips; and went 2-1 to close out the season with a win over Toronto and a split with Western.
Laurier ended regular season play at 16-9-3; a very close fourth in the brutally competitive OUA Far West Division. The Hawks are 2-1 in OUA playoff action (18-10-3 OUA overall); defeating cross-town rivals Waterloo in their OUA first round playoff series. The series was very interesting in that the high flying Hawks were shut down offensively by the Warriors and were outscored 6-4 in the three games; yet Laurier dug deep and gutted it out for close wins in the second and third games of the series.
Lakehead Head Coach Don McKee said he expects a very tough series. The battle between the Golden Hawks and the Thunderwolves will bring together the two top offenses in the OUA and its going to be a hard-fought and evenly matched series where goaltending and defense will be key. I think the play of our defense is going to be critical against Lauriers high scoring offense.
This will indeed be a series of two very high powered offenses as Lakehead led the OUA in goals for with 128 while Laurier was second with 120. Lakehead was tied for third in the conference in goals allowed with 68 while Laurier was 12th with 96.
Head To Head:
The Wolves are 14-10 against Laurier all-time; 10-6 in regular season play, 2-3 in playoffs, and 2-1 in non-conference action. Lakehead has outscored Laurier 100-78 in those 24 games.
This year Lakehead is 3-1 in four regular season meetings. Lakehead split the away series in October in Waterloo; winning 6-3 and losing 4-3. The Wolves then won twice at home at the beginning of February by scores of 3-2 and 7-5.
Lakehead Thunderwolves:
The Wolves set many team and individual records during the regular season but now have to put that all behind them and get ready for the second season; the playoffs and a developing rivalry with the dangerous Hawks. The Wolves know that the Hawks are a very formidable opponent who can capitalize on any mistake.
The Wolves will be led from the back by senior netminder Chris Whitley who led t