Lakehead University and Head Coach Pete Belliveau are very pleased to announce this year's recruiting class for the Thunderwolves' Men's Hockey Team. This year's class brings in eight new student-athletes from across Canada who have committed to help build the exciting third year hockey program. In keeping with its goal of attracting local and regional players, four of the eight recruits hail from Thunder Bay while the other four come from Vancouver, Mississauga, Peterborough, and Windsor. The stress is also on defense, as four of the eight newcomers are blueliners.
The new recruits are Kris Calloway (Defense, Vancouver, B.C.), Mike Self (Defense, Peterborough, Ont.), Steve Rawski (Defense, Mississauga, Ont.), Jesse Baraniuk (Defense, Thunder Bay, Ont.), Mike Wehrstedt (Right Wing, Thunder Bay, Ont.), Austin Wycisk (Right Wing, Windsor, Ont.), Jouni Kuokkinen (Left Wing, Thunder Bay, Ont.) and Peter Cava (Centre, Thunder Bay, Ont.).
Coach Belliveau said he is very pleased with the new recruits and feels that they will give a lot of depth to his team, especially on defense. "Our program has significantly improved its already strong defensive brigade as we can now ice eight top defensemen and we will also now have four top lines who can score anytime. I think our depth chart is now on par with the upper ranked teams in the CIS; the challenge will be with all our returning players accepting their roles within our team-first philosophy."
"This will be an exciting year for all our fans, but hard work will be the key ingredient as we enter our third season in the OUA. There is no magic formula, it will simply be one hundred percent honest effort every night at practice, games, and in the classroom.", Belliveau added.
Coach Belliveau is entering his third season behind the bench for the Thunderwolves. Team Trainer Ron Rost will also be back for his third season. Joining them will be defensive teams coach Darrin Nicholas in his second season, new goaltending coach Dave McCulloch, and assistant coach Dan Bissonnette.
Rugged forward Mark Robinson will take this season off to dedicate himself full-time to his studies in engineering and will return to the team in 2004-2005.
The Thunderwolves will undergo NHL calibre fitness testing by Donna Newhouse in partnership with Lakehead's Department of Kinesiology on Sept. 2nd with dry-land training to follow. On-ice practices will begin Sept. 18th as the team prepares for its first game action with a two game non-conference home series against the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds on Sept. 26th and 27th.
2003-2004 Thunderwolves' Recruiting Class:
Name: Kris Calloway
Position: Defense
Hometown: Vancouver, B.C.
Previous Club: Lethbridge Hurricanes-WHL/Portland Winter Hawks-WHL/ Spokane Chiefs-WHL
Height: 6'2"
Weight: 210 lbs.
Name: Mike Self
Position: Defense
Hometown: Peterborough, Ont.
Previous Club: Windsor Spitfires-OHL/Peterborough Petes-OHL
Height: 6'4"
Weight: 215 lbs.
Name: Steve Rawski
Position: Defense
Hometown: Mississauga, Ont.
Previous Club: Toronto, Mississauga, Windsor, London-OHL
Height: 6'2"
Weight: 210 lbs.
Name: Jesse Baraniuk
Position: Defense
Hometown: Thunder Bay, Ont.
Previous Club: Northern Michigan-NCAA Division 1/Green Bay Gamblers-USHL
Height: 5'10"
Weight: 195 lbs.
Jesse will red shirt until February of 2004 when he will be eligible to play.
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