Dupuis lifts Wolves to win

Just Doo it.

That seems to be the slogan du jour at Fort William Gardens, where goaltender Alex Dupuis has taken the crowd by storm since replacing Kyle Moir in the Lakehead Thunderwolves net in the opening round of the OUA men’s hockey playoffs.

Dupuis turned aside 34 shots on Wednesday night, the crowd of more than 3,100 filling the rafters at the old barn with a raucous chant of “Doo” every time the Thunder Bay native touched the puck. Heck, he even helped his own cause out a bit, drawing a pair of assists that give him as many playoff points as star forward Brock McPherson, as the Wolves downed Western 4-1 in the opener of their best-of-three OUA West Division final. 

It was the fifth straight playoff win for Dupuis, who took over in Game 2 of LU’s first-round series against York, and hasn’t looked back since. He said he’s just trying to go with the flow and ride his hot streak as long as he can.

“It feels good. I wasn’t really expecting to play this many games, especially in the playoffs. But I got my chance and I’m trying to make the most of it,” said Dupuis, no stranger to big games, just a year removed from a trip to the Royal Bank Cup with the Summerside (P.E.I.) Capitals.

Lakehead coach Joel Scherban, who played the last time the Wolves and Mustangs met in the postseason, four years ago, said it’s nice to see Dupuis’ efforts being recognized by the crowd. It’s well deserved, he added.

“The fans were great tonight and obviously they support him. He’s making not only the saves he’s supposed to make, but he made some big saves tonight, and he’s playing with the puck especially well,” Scherban said.

It helps when the entire team is committed to playing well at both ends of the rink. That’s playoff hockey, Scherban said.

“That’s what you need. The team that wants to win the most usually wins,” Scherban said. “You have to really do all the little things right at this time of year, and that’s what we’re really emphasizing. We’re making sure guys are back-checking all the way to our net and making sure we win the battles along the walls and we chip pucks out.”

Dupuis, 20, said getting the first win at home against a team like the Mustangs doesn’t make things any easier the rest of the way, when the series shifts to London for Game 2 on Saturday, and if necessary, Game 3 on Sunday.

But it also doesn’t hurt, he said.

“It’s huge. We need the confidence. If you want to be successful in the playoffs, you’ve got to win at home. We did that, and now we have to go there, bring our confidence with us and hopefully steal a game,” Dupuis said.

They’ve already put a pair of lopsided losses in London, that started the second half off on the wrong foot, out of their mind, he added.

“That’s out of our mind. We played awful, we know that, we made adjustments and we’ve improved a lot. It shows in the playoffs and hopefully we can keep it going,” Dupuis said, acknowledging Western’s back are up against the proverbial wall now, facing the reality that one more loss and their front door entry into a second straight University Cup berth is finished.

Western coach Clarke Singer said his team has played enough hockey at the Gardens to know the Wolves goal is to get off to a fast start, before the opposition acclimatizes to the frenzied atmosphere.

“They had a great start on us and unfortunately they got the goals so early. That obviously set the tempo for the game. But I thought they were great right through. They played a very solid game, they worked hard, they played solid defensively and Alex made some big saves when he had to,” said Singer, who is 2-3 in five previous playoff series against Lakehead.

Ryan Baird scored first for the Thunderwolves at 2:04 of the first, barrelling in from the blueline to bash the puck past Keyvan Hunt, finishing off a sweet solo effort by Andy Hyvarinen, who moved in alone on Hunt, but ran out of real estate before he could put the puck away.

With two minutes and change left in the period, Jordan Smith charged his way into the offensive zone and took a Shandor Alphonso bullet pass from the corner to give the Wolves a 2-0 advantage. Alphonso connected for his first of the playoffs 13:23 into the second and the teams traded goals in the third, Kevin Baker ending Dupuis’ shutout bid on the power play at 7:31 and Kris Hogg putting it away at 16:50.

Claw marks: There will be a new national champion in 2010. In a stunning upset, the St. Francis Xavier X-men swept the University of New Brunswick Varsity Reds in three straight in the Atlantic University Sport semifinal. St. FX took the clincher 3-2 on home ice on Tuesday night. The X-Men will play Saint Mary’s in the AUS final for the right to represent the league at the Cavendish University Cup later this month in Thunder Bay.

FIRST PERIOD
Scoring: 1. Lakehead, Baird 1 (Hyvarinen, Dobben) 2:04. 2. Lakehead, Smith 4 (S. Alphonso, Caria) 17:26. Penalties: Baird LAK (cross checking) 7:21.

SECOND PERIOD
Scoring: 3. Lakehead, S. Alphonso 1 (Guilbault) 13:23. Penalties: Martinelli WES (cross checking) 1:07, Wilkins LAK (roughing), Snow WES (slashing) 8:19, Furlong WES, Baird LAK (roughing after the whistle) 10:17. McDonald LAK (hooking) 10:33.

THIRD PERIOD
Scoring: 4.Western, Baker 1 (Aarssen, Turkiewicz) 7:31 pp. 5. Lakehead, Hogg 3 (Sagert) 16:50. Penalties: Sagert LAK (cross checking) 5:46, Smith LAK, Snow WES (roughing) 17:33.

GAME DATA – SOG – Western 10-11-0-0, Lakehead 12-9-0-0; Power plays (goals-chances) – Western (1-3), Lakehead (0-1); Goaltenders – Western: Keyvan Hunt; Lakehead: Alex Dupuis; A: 3,134.