The Lakehead Thunderwolves mens hockey team opens OUA regular season play at home against OUA Far West Division rivals the Windsor Lancers this Friday and Saturday night at the Fort William Gardens in Thunder Bay, Ontario.
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Both home games vs. Windsor will be videowebcast live on a pay-per-view basis with ordering information available at http://events.news-cast.com/events/Lakehead. Viewers will need hi speed internet and Windows Media Player to watch the broadcasts. Rock94 FM Sports Director Bryan Wyatt will be calling the play by play while Argus Sports Editor Mike St. Jean will be handling the pre-game, colour, and intermission duties with the broadcasts beginning each night at 7:20 pm EST.
Lakehead enters the weekend with a 2-3 overall record; coming off a home split against the Saint Marys Huskies and an exhibition road loss to the University of Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs in Duluth this past Sunday.
Windsor is coming off a road swing against NCAA opponents that saw them drop tough games against Ferris State (CCHA) and Western Michigan (CCHA). Windsor comes into the weekend with a 1-4 overall mark.
Lakehead Head Coach Don McKee said his team is preparing for an intense series. The Windsor Lancers, under a new coaching staff led by Head Coach Kevin Hanlin, will bring a well prepared team to Thunder Bay this weekend. Kevin has always had very competitive teams while coaching at St. Clair College. Anyone who takes the Lancers lightly will pay the price so the Thunderwolves have a lot of work to do in preparing for their guests this Thanksgiving.
New Windsor Head Coach Kevin Hamline said his young troops are ready to measure themselves against the Wolves. It will be a tremendous learning opportunity to play a team that is touted as being one of the finest in CIS hockey. I also look forward to re-uniting with a former teammate, Tom Warden.
Hamlin played varsity hockey at the University of Toronto with Lakehead Athletics Director Tom Warden.
Head to Head:
The Wolves are 26-5-1 all time vs. Windsor; 22-5-1 in reg. season play and 4-0 in the playoffs. Last season, the Wolves were 4-0 against the Lancers in their four reg. season meetings, two very close wins in Windsor and two by larger margins in Thunder Bay. Lakehead has outscored Windsor 159-71 in those 32 previous matches.
Lakehead Thunderwolves:
The Thunderwolves are coming off a tough weekend against the SMU Huskies and the UMD Bulldogs and Coach McKee and his staff used the three games to make their final cuts and get ready for the regular season.
Now that the roster is set; the Wolves begin the long journey towards the national championships in March at the Gardens.
Netminders Chris Whitley and Kyle Moir both looked solid in pre-season play and they will need to be ready to play against the new-look Lancers.
Jordan C. Smith and Drew Kivell will anchor the Wolves big blueline corps while Pierre-Marc Guilbault and Andy Zulyniak will lead the defenders offensively. Lakehead will look for solid play from newcomers Ryan Baird and Bryan Wilson.
Lakehead has offensive punch but now is the time for the new line combinations to start finding their synchronicity with each other. The Wolves will look for scoring from veterans like Dan Speer, Mark Soares, Brock McPherson, Tobias Whelan and will also look for the same from newcomers like Scott Dobben, Andy Hyvarinen, and Arron Alphonso.
Lakehead 08-09 Results:
Oct. 5: UMD 6 Lakehead 0
Oct. 4: SMU 2 Lakehead 0
Oct. 3: Lakehead 3 SMU 1
Sep. 27: Carleton 3 Lakehead 2
Sep. 26: Lakehead 3 Carleton 2 (OTS)
Windsor Lancers:
First Year Head Coach Kevin Hamlin joins the Lancers after being the Head Coach of the St. Clair College Hockey program, the St. Clair Saints in the Ontario Major Hockey Senior League. In 2006-07, and as assistant coach at Cornell University (NCAA Division 1) and the Windsor Spitfires (OHL). Coincidentally, Coach Hamlin played varsity hockey with Lakehead Athletics Director Tom Warden for the University of Toronto.
Coach Hamlin retooled his team after the departure of former Head Coach Pete Belliveau to Dalhousie and now the Lancers are a very young squad with 15 freshmen, 5 sophomores, four juniors, and only one senior.
Coach Hamlin has had an excellent recruiting year; bring in top freshmen power forward Mark Thorburn (Captain of the Aurora Tigers; Ont. Jr. A League), forward Danny Anger (Sarnia Sting; OHL), centreman Shane Taylor (Erie Otters; OHL), d-man Ryan Crouch (Sudbury Wolves; OHL), forward Brett Oliphant (Sarnia Sting; OHL), and combo d-man forward Jonathan Sciacca (Windsor/Kingston/Oshawa; OHL).
Veteran Lancers forwards to watch are junior Josh Gaynor and sophomores Mike Barbour, Scott Gillis, and Kyle Nishizaki.
Juniors Tyler McKinley and Jon Ryan anchor the defence along with sophomore Scott Todd. Top recruits Matt McReady (St. Mikes; OHL) will join fellow freshmen Kyle Lang (St. Clair College) and top recruit Crouch to form a young and strong defensive corps.
Sophomore netminder Jim Watt will be the starter for the Lancers between the pipes and will be supported by freshmen goalies Frank Dayus and Jonathan Hunter.
Windsor 08-09 Results:
Oct. 5: Ferris State 4 Windsor 0
Oct. 4: Western Michigan 5 Windsor 2
Sep. 28: Windsor 12 Oakland University 1
Sep. 21: RMC 5 Windsor 2
Sep. 20: Queens 3 Windsor 0