THUNDER BAY – SPORTS – The Lakehead Thunderwolves will welcome the York Lions to the Fort William Gardens this weekend in the renewal of their OUA West Division rivalry. Game times are 7:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday night.
Last time out
Lakehead is coming off a tough three-game road trip in which the Wolves came up just a little bit short in each game against some excellent competition.
After falling 6-5 at Waterloo and 4-3 at Laurier to open the OUA regular season last Friday and Saturday, the Wolves travelled south of the border on Monday to take on NCAA power Minnesota-Duluth, where they were edged 4-2 by the Bulldogs after leading them 2-1 late in third period.
York lost its OUA opener at home last Thursday, a 4-1 defeat to cross-town rival Ryerson, but rebounded the following night with a 2-1 overtime road win at Guelph.
Series history
Lakehead holds a commanding lead over York in the all-time series with a record of 33-12 versus the Lions.
The Wolves travelled to York at the end of November last season and came away with two victories, winning by scores of 1-0 and 5-3.
The two squads faced-off again in the OUA West Division quarter-finals, which Lakehead swept in two games by downing the Lions 4-2 at York before finishing them off with a 5-2 win at the Fort William Gardens.
Hammond hot
Mike Hammond, the Wolves’ leading scorer from last season, has picked up right where he left off. With 10 points in 7 games so far, he’s currently Lakehead’s top point-getter again this year.
About the Lions
York is in a rebuilding mode this season, having lost three of its top four scorers from last season. Junior Michael Santini is the Lions’ top returning forward.
The Lions will be without arguably their best defenceman from last year (John DeGray), so Tyler Mort will step up to anchor York’s blue line.
Standout netminder Andrew Perugini is also gone from the York line-up, but will be replaced by his younger brother Chris in the Lions’ goal.
With all these changes, York is naturally a very young team this year with 13 freshmen on the roster.
John Payetta
