Blizzard Head South to Waywayseecappo then Virden

The Blizzard (18-7-2) will board the bus tomorrow morning with the wheels pointed towards Waywayseecappo (9-11-2) for a Friday night dance with the Wolverines. OCN will then hit the road to the Brandon area for the night before playing Virden on Saturday.

The Wolverines are struggling this season as they've had a hard time keeping the puck out of their net. Waywayseecappo has the third highest goals against average per game in the league at 3.86 and they sit second last in the Sher-Wood Division with just 20 points.

Meanwhile OCN is coming off four days off after playing three games in three nights and going 2-1 with wins versus Selkirk and Winnipeg and the lone loss against Winkler. The Blizzard have now won six of their last seven games.

In the last ten games the two teams have opposite records with the Blizzard at 6-4 and Waywayseecappo at 4-6.

The Blizzard will look to keep the train rolling this weekend without the services of Garick Gray, but they may be bolstered by the return of Thomas Ward-Cardinal.

The Blizzard defender has been out since October 19th when he suffered a high ankle sprain against the Wolverines in the first period. He had accumulated 11 points (5G, 6A) in 13 games before his injury. It's not 100% sure that he will return this weekend but the feeling is he should be ready to go against Virden if not tomorrow night.


Tomorrow nights match up will feature two of the most anemic powerplays in the league as both teams are clicking under 20%. OCN is last in the MJHL with the man advantage at 11.43% while Waywayseecappo is third last clicking at 16.98%.

As for the penalty kill the Blizzard boast numbers that are tops in the league tied with Virden at 84.62%, as for Waywayseecappo is tied for seventh at 77.50%.

The leading scorers for both teams have 25 points. OCN has both Tyler Grove (12G, 13A) and Wilson Dumais (9G, 16A) at that mark while Brett Pinkerton (6G, 19A) leads the Wolverines in scoring.

As for goaltending the Blizzard have a clear advantage as both goaltenders are top five statistically, Justin McDonald leads every major statistical category except for goals against average.

McDonald (13-4) boasts a GAA of 2.54, a save percentage of .929% and four shutouts. Blizzard backup Alex Henry (5-4) is not far behind his teammate with a GAA of 2.79 and a save percentage of .918%.

For Waywayseecappo Cory Simons (7-6) has seen the most action for the Wolverines and has a GAA of 3.14 and a save percentage of .908%. Riley Feser (2-6) is playing the role of backup this season and holds a GAA of 4.32 and a save percentage of .875.

The Blizzard have beaten the Wolverines in all three matchups between the two divisional rivals this season.

Both games this weekend will be broadcast on the air with the pre-game show kicking off at 7:15 both nights.

-Brad-