The Lakehead Thunderwolves begin the 2004-05 season with the goal of being one of the six teams competing for the CIS University Cup NationalChampionships in Edmonton, Alberta in March of 2005. However, the 'Wolves know that it is a long difficult road to make it to Edmonton. This year the 'Wolves face tough opposition from OUA West Divisional opponents arch-rival Western, the resurgent Waterloo Warriors who had a very strong recruiting year, and the young and tough Windsor Lancers. Beyond their division lay strong OUA teams like UQTR, Ottawa, York, and Toronto.
The Thunderwolves were 18-4-2 in OUA play last year and 29-8-3 overall. They won the OUA Far West Division for the second year in a row but were defeated in the Queen's Cup Semi-Final by the York Lions. In its three years as a program, Lakehead has improved its OUA regular season point total each year, made the playoffs each year, won at least one playoff series each year, made two appearances at the Queen's Cup Tournament, and made one appearance at the CIS National Championships.
This year's squad features a strong corps of returning veterans as well as a big group of new faces. The Thunderwolves have nine players from Thunder Bay and Northwestern Ontario, nine players from Southern Ontario, four from Alberta, two each from B.C. and Quebec, and one from Nova Scotia.
Head Coach Pete Belliveau is very optimistic about this year's team but knows there is long season ahead against some very tough opponents. "We are entering our fourth season with 18 veterans and 9 rookies; we will have lots of depth, grit, speed, and scoring. We have lost our best defensemen, but our three rookies on the blue line have filled in more than adequately. We will be competing in the OUA Far West Division, which has improved immensely this season; so all our games will be hard-fought battles. It should be a great season!"
Players to watch this season are three-time OUA First Team All-Star and team captain Joel Scherban, CIS All-Canadian Jeff Richards, and OUA All-Stars Grant McCune, Chris Shaffer, and Erik Lodge.
Returning Players: Joel Scherban, Grant McCune, Jeff Richards, Chris Shaffer, Erik Lodge, Robert Hillier, Murray Magill, Jason Lange, Mike Wehrstedt, Kris Callaway, Steve Rawski, Hugo Lehoux, Leon Cooper, Mike Self, Jounni Kuokkanen, Austin Wycisk, and Mark Robinson.
This year's strong group of newcomers are Chris Whitley, Andrew Brown, Drew Kivell, Sean Stefanski, Francis Walker, Dene Poulin, Brad Priestlay, Tobias Whelan, Peter Cava, and Jessie Baraniuk.
Lakehead Thunderwolves 2004-05 Roster:
No. NAME POS HT WT Elig D.O.B. COURSE YR HOMETOWN PROV
(Previous Teams)
Coach Belliveau's Comments
2 Mike Self D 6'4" 210 2 03/18/83 General Arts 2 Peterborough ON
(Windsor Spitfires-OHL/Peterborough Petes-OHL)
Mike is a second year D-man with lots of physical attributes, he plays one-on-one very tough and kills penalties.
3 Kris Callaway D 6'2" 210 2 06/21/82 Business 2 North Delta BC
(Lethbridge Hurricanes-WHL/Portland Winter Hawks-WHL/ Spokane Chiefs-WHL)
Kris is another second year D-man who can play the total game offensively and defensively ; he had four game winning goals last year and was an OUA All rookie team selection.
4 Jessie Baraniuk D5'10" 195 1 01/19/83 Business Admin. 2 Thunder Bay, ON
(Northern Michigan - NCAA, Green Bay Gamblers - USHL)
This transferring D-man from Northern Michigan Wildcats is a very mobile
defensemen who plays much bigger than his size, a good all round D-man who has excellent foot speed.
5 Erik Lodge D 6'0" 195 4 04/08/80 General Arts 4 Innisfail AB
(Camrose Kodiaks - AJHL, Lethbridge Hurricanes - WHL)
Erik is a fourth year D-man who is enjoying hi