THUNDER BAY – The Lakehead Thunderwolves will open the OUA men’s hockey playoffs at home.
The T-Wolves dropped to fifth place in the OUA West on Saturday night, after the Windsor Lancers knocked off the last-place Waterloo Warriors 3-2 in overtime.
The Lancers and Thunderwolves were tied heading into the final day of the regular season, with Lakehead holding the tiebreaker by virtue of more regulation and overtime wins.
Once the Lancers hit overtime, they locked up fourth place and home-ice advantage in the opening round.
Game 2, and if necessary, Game 3, will be played in Windsor.
Lakehead (14-12-2) forced with issue, going 5-0-1 down the stretch to tie the Lancers in the standings, but Windsor (15-11-2) held a game in hand.
Toronto will play the winner of Sunday’s play-in game between Nipissing and Laurier, the latter playing host for the one-and-done contest, which gets under way at 7 p.m.
Brock and Toronto Metropolitan earned first-round byes.
In the OUA East, McGill and UQTR will sit out the first round, with Ottawa hosting Ontario Tech and Queen’s battling Concordia in best-of-three opening round series.
