Rivalry continues

 
Like the Boston Bruins and Montreal Canadiens in the 1980s, playoff meetings between the Lakehead Thunderwolves and Western Mustangs were automatic between 2002 and 2006.
Joel Scherban, the player, was there for every one of them.

There was the upstart expansion Wolves in 2002, knocking off an undefeated Mustangs squad dubbed the most dominant team on Earth by The Hockey News, who stunned Western in Game 1 of their second-round series before losing in three.

The Mustangs went on to win a national championship.

The Wolves exacted revenge the next two years, sweeping the Mustangs in 2003 and riding a marathon, 5-4 four-overtime affair to a series win in 2004, with Scherban drawing an assist on Erik Lodge’s winning goal, 62 minutes after the overtime session began.

Western returned the favour a year later, but in 2006 the Wolves got a Game 3 shutout from Chris Whitley to advance.

And then the lights went out on the postseason rivalry, and three springs passed without any meaningful meetings.

But Scherban is back, this time at the reins of a roller-coaster Wolves team that completed a sweep of Guelph last weekend to earn the right to play for an OUA Western Conference title and a front-door assault on a national championship berth.

The opponent: the Western Mustangs.

"Actually I didn’t realize they hadn’t played Lakehead in the last few years," said Scherban, who took a sabbatical from hockey for a hospital job after retiring from the game four years ago, only to re-emerge last spring as just the third coach in Thunderwolves history.

"All five years I played we played Western and had some great series with them and that rivalry will be renewed pretty quickly."

Scherban, who turns 30 next month, said it was Western who first provided the Wolves with their identity, in that first playoff meeting eight years ago.

"I think that was the first sign that this was going to be a successful program and we’d be able to compete with the top teams in the country," Scherban said.

Like the Bruins and Habs, the Celtics and Lakers or the Red Sox and Yankees, a Lakehead-Western series automatically takes the sport to a higher level.

"The series with Western always just seems to have a little bit more energy and a little bit more of that competitiveness. Definitely all my favourite memories playing in playoffs at Lakehead were playing Western and going into their arena.

"I’ve been sitting back thinking this week that I’ve been pretty fortunate to win some pretty big games as a player, and hopefully that will continue as a coach," said Scherban, whose history with London dates back to five seasons with the Ontario Hockey League Knights, where he was heavily recruited by those same Mustangs before choosing his hometown Thunder Bay.

Scherban is looking forward to matching wits with legendary Western coach Clarke Singer, who earlier this season earned his 250th university victory and is generally regarded as one of the top coaches in the Canadian game.

Scherban wouldn’t have it any other way.

"The road to nationals or an OUA championship always seems to go through Western. That’s kind of how you measure yourself and your success."

The Wolves and Mustangs split the season series 2-2, with each team sweeping on home ice.

Game 1 is scheduled for Wednesday night at Fort William Gardens. Games 2 and 3, if necessary, will go Saturday and Sunday at Western.