Skip to content

Wolves return home in hunt for consistency

Consistency is the word of the day in the Lakehead Thunderwolves dressing room. Knowing its meaning is one thing. Producing it is a completely different kettle of fish.
Consistency is the word of the day in the Lakehead Thunderwolves dressing room.

Knowing its meaning is one thing. Producing it is a completely different kettle of fish.

Once again the Wolves hit the road last weekend, and once again they returned to Thunder Bay without the full complement of points available to them.

Led by player of the month Matt Caria, linemate Ryan McDonald and rookie blue-liner Mike Quesnele, the Wolves handily downed York 5-2 on Friday night. But in Saturday’s rematch, with the Caria crew held in check, they fell 3-0.

With Laurier headed to Fort William Gardens this weekend, coach Joel Scherban would like to see a similar effort on both nights, given the parity in a division that sees just three points separate second place from last.

"It’s great. Every time you play you know you have a tough game. That’s not the way it was a few years ago … It’s a huge weekend. We want to make sure we keep Western in our paths and start putting separation between us and the rest of the OUA teams in the division."

It won’t happen if Saturday’s effort returns, Scherban said. But this may only come with time, he added.

"The core of our team is actually pretty young, and we need to learn how to win. In the beginning of the year I thought we were extremely inconsistent. We played three really well-played games in a row, two against Guelph and one against York. It looked like we were going, but it was a bit of a step back on Saturday against York.

"It’s mostly mental. Guys have to execute properly and we tend to get up by a few goals or beat someone on the first night, and then we stop doing the things that made us successful."

Caria, who leads the Wolves (4-3-1) with 12 points in eight games, called last weekend’s split upsetting, something he’d rather not see become a regular occurrence.

"We’ve got to have a big week at practice. We know these two games against Laurier is going to be big. We’re excited and we’re ready for it and on home ice we always get a little bit more jump in our game. So I think we’ll make the most of it," he said.

Game time Friday and Saturday night is 7:30 p.m.


Leith Dunick

About the Author: Leith Dunick

A proud Nova Scotian who has called Thunder Bay home since 2002, Leith is Dougall Media's director of news, but still likes to tell your stories too. Wants his Expos back and to see Neil Young at least one more time. Twitter: @LeithDunick
Read more



push icon
Be the first to read breaking stories. Enable push notifications on your device. Disable anytime.
No thanks