THUNDER BAY — First place in the OUA West will still be on the line when the Windsor Lancers tangle with the Lakehead Thunderwolves on Thursday night at Fort William Gardens.
The No. 9 Lancers will hold the upper hand, needing just one point in their final two OUA regular-season contests to secure the No. 1 seed heading into the playoffs.
A win, however, would not only keep first place dreams alive for the newly anointed No. 10 Thunderwolves, but it would guarantee them a first-round bye and a chance to rest up for Round 2 in two-week’s time.
Forward Spencer Blackwell, playing at a point-a-game pace and named his team’s athlete of the month for January, said the team doesn’t completely control its own destiny heading into Thursday night, but can put itself in a really good place with a regulation win.
“It’s crazy that we’re here,” said Blackwell, who has goals in back-to-back contests and a pair of three-point outings since the Christmas break ended, leading the Thunderwolves to eight wins in their last 10 games.
“It’s cool that we put ourselves in the position to do that and I’m excited to play Thursday. I always love a game that means a lot.”
Captain Tyler Jette, who has four goals and seven assists in 26 outings, said it’s good to have at least some of their own fate in their hands heading into the finale against Windsor (18-4-3), a team that jumped two points ahead of Lakehead (17-6-3), making up one of two games in hand by doubling Waterloo 4-2. They’ll wrap things up on Saturday on the road against Western, a team currently in a four-way tie for the sixth and final playoff spot in the OUA West.
“Getting that two points and getting the bye will get some guys some time to get healthy and get their shoulders ready for (our) first round. If we do have to play three rounds, we can go. We’re deep enough. I’m not too worried whether we win or lose, but we’re going to go for the win,” said Jette, who hails from Farmington, Minn.
The Thunderwolves hit their finale with a three-point cushion over third-place Brock, who could take over second with three points, should Lakehead lose in regulation, or four points, if the Thunderwolves pick up a point.
Regulation and overtime wins (ROW) are the first tie-breaker, and head-to-head is the second. If Windsor loses both games in regulation, LU and the Lancers would be tied for first, but Lakehead would own the head-to-head tiebreaker. Brock and Lakehead currently each have 17 regulation and overtime wins. If Brock wins twice, Lakehead would need the two points to secure the bye.
If they don’t get the bye, they’ll open up on the road in a best-of-three first-round series, with Games 2 and 3 scheduled for the Gardens.
Confused yet?
“We’re excited,” said coach Andrew Wilkins. “Obviously with the year we’ve had, in the last game potentially playing for first place or a bye, it’s kind of what you hope for at the beginning of the year and we’re definitely excited.”
Lakehead hasn’t won a division title since 2007-08, when the team was led by the likes of Dan Speer, Brock McPherson and Chris Whitley, one of a handful of players singled out with posters on the hallway outside the Thunderwolves dressing room.
“I think we just want to focus on playing the way we can. Obviously it would be nice to win, but if we’re in a situation where we’re playing next week, we’re fine with that too. I think there are some things that are out of our control with what the other teams do.”
Game time is 7 p.m.
Claw marks: The Thunderwolves have drawn 27,081 fans to the Gardens during the regular season, an average of 2,256 a night. With four non-conference games added in, the total goes to 33,917, an average of 2,119 a game.
