If it wasn’t for Ryan Daniels and the Laurier Golden Hawks, the Lakehead Thunderwolves would be on a 12-game winning streak.
Don’t think for a second the Wolves don’t want a little revenge.
“For sure,” said forward Trevor Gamache, who is second on the team to Adam Sergerie with eight goals this season.
“Winning 11 of our last 12 games, with Laurier being the only glitch in there, we’re going to go into this weekend to prove something. It doesn’t mean anything, the standings. They have a great team and we’re going have to give it all we’ve got.”
They’ll have to.
Though they might be just 4-8-0 as the OUA hockey schedule gets set for the Christmas break, the Golden Hawks have shown they can play with the West Division’s best, having beaten Waterloo, Brock, Lakehead and Western, a 5-4 thriller that handed the Mustangs their first regulation loss of the campaign.
Dainiels has been the key to the hot streak, said LU coach Joel Scherban, whose team this week jumped up a notch in the national rankings, coming in at eighth in the country. Daniels’s numbers (3.54, .919, 4-7-0) might not be as stellar as Lakehead’s Alex Dupuis’s – who will make a fifth straight start on Friday – but he’s been getting the job done when it counts.
“We know it’s going to be tough,” said Scherban. “Ryan Daniels is on a huge hot streak right now, so we need to find ways to generate offense on him. “We’re working hard on it this week in practice, working at getting traffic to the net. We’re working at finding rebounds right at the top of the crease and also in the high slot. We’re working at using the back of the net and cut-backs.”
Gamache said the team has noted their place atop the West Division standings, and are proud of what they’ve accomplished, but said neither players nor the coaching staff is letting it go to their head. They’re also not too concerned that Western, who trail the Wolves (11-3-0) by two points, also happen to have a couple of games in the standings.
There’s plenty of hockey left to be played, said Gamache, knowing all-too-well the Wolves have four post-Christmas dates with the rival Mustangs.
“All we’re focusing on is controlling what we can do,” he said. “If we keep winning the games, by the end of the season we’re looking at home-ice advantage. It’s hard for other teams to come in this building and win, so that’s our goal right now is just to keep winning, and everything else will play out.”
LU will be shorthanded once again this weekend, minus scoring star Matt Caria, down with an injured ankle and not expected back until the Carleton non-conference series after Christmas. Also questionable are forwards Jadran Beljo (knee, ankle) and Brennan Menard (concussion) and defencemen Mitch Mauno (knee) and Riley McIntosh, all of whom will be re-evaluated closer to game-time.
It’s just another challenge, said Gamache.
“We’ve been rolling four lines right from the UQTR weekend and it’s starting to pay off now. Everyone’s got their ice time in, everyone’s rolling and we’ve got enough depth up front and on the back to make up for (guys) being out.”
Game time at Fort William Gardens on Friday and Saturday night is the usual 7:30 p.m.
