THUNDER BAY — The Lakehead Thunderwolves will return to the OUA men’s hockey playoffs, though they didn’t win their way in.
Instead, they got a little help from the Queen’s Gaels.
The Gaels on Sunday downed the Brock Badgers 3-1, leaving the Badgers four points behind Lakehead, with just two games to play.
Lakehead owns the tiebreaker, having beaten Brock in both meetings this season.
The top six teams in the OUA Central make the playoffs. Lakehead, who lost to McGill and UQTR on the road this past weekend, are 14-10-2 and still in the mix for a first-round bye. LU takes on Western on the road this coming weekend, and can actually finish anywhere from first to sixth.
They’re currently tied for fourth with Windsor, both teams having collected 30 points. Toronto Metropolitan (16-9-1) leads the Central with 33 points. Toronto is one point back at 16-11-0, but only has one game remaining, a Sunday date against the OUA East-leading Concordia Stingers.
Should the T-Wolves not get the opening-round bye, they’ll open the playoffs next week at the Tournament Centre. If they finish fifth or sixth, the game will likely be Wednesday night. A third- or fourth-place finish would mean Game 2 likely on Feb. 21 with a Game 3, if necessary, on the following night.
A first-round bye would see them open on the road, likely on Feb. 26.
