By John Payetta
THUNDER BAY – SPORTS – The Lakehead Thunderwolves will face its first road test of 2019 with a pair of games against the Windsor Lancers at the South Windsor Arena this Friday and Saturday, with the opening face-off set for 7:30 pm on both nights.
The Matchup
- Lakehead: 9-8-1 OUA (5th place West Division) 15-9-1 overall
Windsor: 9-9-0 OUA (6th place West Division) 10-14-1 overall
Recent Results
Lakehead is coming off a series split with the Waterloo Warriors at the Fort William Gardens last weekend. After winning 5-2 on Friday night, the Wolves fell 5-3 the following evening.
Windsor collected a pair of road wins at Laurier last weekend, defeating the Golden Hawks 3-0 on Friday followed by a 2-1 overtime victory on Saturday.
Series History
With an all-time record of 43-23 versus Windsor, Lakehead has more wins over the Lancers than any other of the Thunderwolves’ OUA opponents.
Windsor was victorious in the last meeting, however, a 4-0 shutout of the Wolves at the Gardens on October 13.
Doing Time
The Thunderwolves and Lancers have spent plenty of time in the penalty box this season. Lakehead has the second-most penalty minutes of the ten teams in the OUA West Division with 340, but Windsor is right behind Lakehead in third with 328 minutes in the sin bin.
About the Lancers
Forwards Kyle Hope, Alex Friesen and Ethan Skinner pace the Lancers’ scoring attack, while defencemen Kody Gagnon and Erik Olson anchor the blue line.
Goalie Jonathan Reinhart leads the OUA with 3 shutouts already this season to go along with a respectable save percentage of .924 and a goals-against average of 2.71.