The Lakehead Thunderwolves mens hockey team welcomes the No.10Waterloo Warriors to the Fort William Gardens in Thunder Bay this weekend for a key divisional battle. Lakehead enters the weekend with a 2-0 OUA mark (3-3 overall) while Waterloo is 2-1 in OUA play and 3-3-1 overall.
Lakehead is coming off a home split vs. Regina while Waterloo is coming off wins over divisional rivals Laurier andWestern and a loss to Brock.
Both games will be videowebcast live with ordering info available at www.thunderwolveshockey.com by clicking on the Broadcast section of the main page.
Lakehead Head Coach Don McKee, who coached the Warriors for 13 seasons; said he is doubly looking forward to this weekend. We know Waterloo is going to be one of the premiere teams in our division so getting points against them at home is going be very important. My experience at Waterloo is the longest chapter in my coaching journey; so obviously I have a lot of friends there. Its going to be an emotional weekend for me as its something I never thought I would be doing as a coach; taking a team against the Warriors. Having said that; Im really pumped for this weekend as are the Wolves. It should be a great series.
Head to Head:
The Thunderwolves are 18-6-2 against the Warriors; 16-6-2 in the regular season and 2-0 in the playoffs. Lakehead outscored Waterloo 106-79 in those games. Last season; Lakehead split its four games with Waterloo; winning 5-4 and losing 2-1 in Waterloo and losing 6-4 and winning 3-0 in Thunder Bay.
Lakehead Thunderwolves:
Lakehead played good hockey at times against Regina last weekend and had a very balanced attack in last Fridays 7-2 win; getting goals from seven different scorers. Chris Whitley looked solid in goal in the Friday victory so Coach McKee should have an interesting decision whether to start Whitley or freshman Kyle Moir; who has also been impressive so far this season.
Two players who stood out against the Cougars were Shandor Alphonso and Brock McPherson. Alphonso played like a man possessed in both games and provided high energy and made an impact on almost every shift. He especially made an impact on Reginas Kyle Ross in last Fridays game in what may have been the hardest open ice hit delivered at the Gardens by a Lakehead player. McPherson was a rock in the corners for the Wolves and used his strength and power to control the puck in the opponents zone and create scoring opportunities for his mates.
The Thunderwolves committed a lot of giveaways in last Saturdays 4-1 loss to Regina and the Wolves will really need to cut down on these against the Warriors.
The Wolves will need scoring from Tobias Whelan, Mark Soares, Andrew Brown, and Kris Hogg this weekend. All contributed against the Cougars and Lakehead fans are hoping Soares, who has been setting up goals, will notch his first goal against the Warriors. He has had a lot of scoring chances and one has the feeling that once he notches his first; the floodgate will open.
Lakeheads young defensive corps played some solid hockey against Regina and, although they had some lapses, they are developing nicely and have been playing some smart hockey.
Lakehead 07-08 Results:
Oct. 13, 2007: Regina 4 Lakehead 1
Oct. 12, 2007: Lakehead 7 Regina 2
Oct. 6, 2007: Lakehead 3 Windsor 2
Oct. 5, 2007: Lakehead 5 Windsor 1
Sep. 29, 2007: Alberta 3 Lakehead 1
Sep. 28, 2007: Alberta 3 Lakehead 0
Waterloo Warriors:
Head Coach Brian Bourque brings a strong Warriors squad to the Gardens this weekend. Key returning players for the Warriors this season include 2006-2007 leading scorer David Edgeworth. The junior Kinesiology student had 13 goals and 32 points last year and has a goal and two assists so far this season.
Shane Hart is off to a hot start w