THUNDER BAY — The Lakehead Thunderwolves will battle it out for a first-round playoff match on Wednesday against the Western Mustangs.
Moved from the Fort William Gardens due to the Scottie’s Tournament of Hearts, the match will occur at 7:30 p.m. at the Thunder Bay Tournament Centre.
Tickets are selling fast for the smaller rink.
“We were so fortunate to have an event like the Scotties in town,” said Jaimie Mintenko, the associate athletics director at Lakehead University.
“Unfortunately, that does push us to the tournament centre for our first playoff game, but we’ve made the adjustments (and) tried to get on top of selling tickets early so that our season ticket holders could get their first opportunity at being in and watching our first-round game tomorrow.”
Looking forward to an exciting game, Mintenko added that the general public also has access to purchase tickets.
Online and in-person ticket sales started earlier in February, with physical copies required for pick up at the Wolf Den in the CJ Saunders Fieldhouse.
“We’re just really excited to host Western this Wednesday. Obviously, (there is) a long-standing rivalry between the two schools and coming off the two games this weekend,” said Mintenko.
“I think it’ll be a terrific game, hoping everybody gets a chance to get out and watch and then, hopefully, with a first-round potential win we’ll be back at the Gardens for round two.”
With the smaller venue having benches instead of assigned seating, this seating will also come on a first-come, first-serve basis.
“We are expecting it to be pretty full,” said Mintenko.
“So we’re hoping people will be able to get there, get their tickets either online at the links that have been advertised on our social media pages or they can actually pick them up in person at the Wolf Den as well, but we’re expecting it to be maximum capacity.”
However, Mintenko added that season ticket holders will get first right of refusal to purchase tickets, which became a really important factor this year, given the limited capacity at the tournament centre.
“We were told that Fort William Gardens has approximately 3,700 seats, give or take, so we’re working with a number of about 1,200 right now, which hopefully will be able to give the majority of our fans the ability to get around and watch us play,” Mintenko said.
