Fifth-year netminder, Chris Whitley, was brilliant between the pipes in the Thunderwolves’ losses against Alberta and UNB. His finishes his Lakehead career as the all-time winningest goalie in team history, and was the 2007-08 OUA MVP. Photo by Mike Lavoie.

Scoring troubles plague LU as two losses eliminate team from University Cup

Mike St. Jean
Sports Editor

The mood of Saturday’s post game press conference was somber at best, with media and members of the Thunderwolves organization looking for answers as to why the team struggled to bury their chances in their 3-1 loss to the University of New Brunswick Varsity Reds at the Fort William Gardens.
“We never got momentum on our bench, and we just needed that one goal to get everything to shift our way,” explained Head Coach, Don McKee. “You saw it [happen] this afternoon with Western, and we just could not get that puck in the back of the net. If there was an easy answer, I wish we could find it.”
Team captain Andrew Brown echoed the comments made by his coach.
“We knew going in when they set the pools that we had a big task ahead of us, but we felt that if we played to our potential we would be ok. Unfortunately, we just couldn’t get any bounces to go our way.”
Lakehead’s CIS Championship tournament got off to a rough start, Friday night, as the team lost by a close 2-1 margin to the tournament favourite Alberta Golden Bears. The Wolves entered their final game of the tournament against the V-Reds needing to win by two goals to keep their hopes of making the final alive.
Although the Wolves had plenty of good scoring opportunities in the game, UNB goaltender Travis Fullerton was equal to the task, making 30 stops on route to his second victory of the Cavendish Cup.
Lakehead’s only goal of the match came with just 26 seconds remaining, scored by sophomore defenseman Andy Zulyniak. Fittingly, the lone assist on the goal went to graduating Andrew Brown, who ends his Lakehead career having played the most games in franchise history.
Shandor Alphonso scored the Wolves lone goal in their game against Alberta, an empty netter during the Bears’ last-ditch effort to gain the goal-differential advantage over UNB needed to salvage any hope of reaching the championship finals. Alberta had lost 6-3 to the V-Reds, on Thursday evening.
If not for the Thunderwolves’ solid defensive work, and great goaltending from fifth-year senior Chris Whitley, who made 73 saves on 77 shots in the tournament, the score would have surely been more one-sided in both games.
The Thunderwolves will now focus their energy towards next season, when they will make another run at the CIS title, which will be held again at the Fort William Gardens in Thunder Bay. This time, however, the team will be have to make due without several key graduating players, including Brown, Whitley, forwards Tobias Whelan, Brad Priestlay, Matt Maisonneuve and Richard Molenaar, as well as defenseman Drew Kivell, who missed the final game of the tournament due to a concussion suffered in the loss to Alberta.