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Thunderwolves to Take On the Bulldogs

Tue Oct 15, 2002
Written by Mike Aylward
Photo by James Mirabelli

The Lakehead Thunderwolves will travel down Bob Dylan's famous Highway 61 to challenge the University of Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs Wednesday night in a cross-border non-conference clash. The Thunderwolves (2-1-1 in non-conference play) are coming off a series sweep last weekend against defending OUA Champions UQTR Patriotes. UMD is coming off of a two game non-conference series against Notre Dame where they lost one and tied one.

Lakehead Head Coach Pete Belliveau says his team is looking forward to this chance to test themselves against an NCAA Division 1 opponent before opening on Friday against OUA arch-rival Western, and to pay a visit to Thunder Bay's American neighbour on Lake Superior's North Shore. "We are looking forward to playing the Bulldogs in order to evaluate our team`s quickness and conditioning at this point of our season, and we also want to start a relationship where we could eventually have home and home non-conference games." The two teams take to the ice Wednesday night at 8:05 PM EST. at the Duluth Entertainment and Convention Center (Capacity: 5,333). The game will be carried live by CKPR 580 AM via its website: www.ckpr.com.A busload of fans will also be going down to Duluth to cheer on their Thunderwolves.

Thunderwolves Notes:

- Tyler Williamson was a player at UMD in 2000-2001.

- Goaltender Grant McCune is undefeated with a record of 2-0-1 in non-conference play

- Jason Lange and Bryan Duce lead the Thunderwolves with 3 goals eachin non-conference play. Lange also has 3 assists to lead the team in scoring.

UMD TEAM INFO:

TEAM RECORD: UMD finished with a 13-24-3 overall record in 2002-2002, and placed ninth in the final Western Collegiate Hockey Association standings at 6-19-3. They are 0-1-1in pre-season play so far this year. In this week's U.S. College Hockey Online poll, the Bulldogs received votes.

COACH : Scott Sandelin (North Dakota, 1987) wrapped up his second season as the Bulldogs' head coach this winter. Sandelin, who is now 20-52-7 with the Bulldogs, officially became a member of the UMD staff on March 31, 2000 after six years of assistant coaching duty at North Dakota -- including the last three seasons as an associate head coach. Prior to joining the Fighting Sioux, Sandelin, 37, spent the 1993-94 season as the head coach of the Fargo-Moorhead Junior Kings of the Junior Elite Hockey League after working in that same capacity (and doubling as general manager) the previous winter with the American Hockey Association's Fargo-Moorhead Express. A native of Hibbing, MN, Sandelin capped off his four-year playing career at North Dakota in 1985-86 by being named one of 10 finalists for the Hobey Baker Memorial Award. An All-WCHA first team pick and an All-American second team selection, Sandelin went on to play seven years of professional hockey, including National Hockey League stints with the Montreal Canadiens (1986-88), Philadelphia Flyers (1990-91) and Minnesota North Stars (1991-92). He was the second round pick of the Montreal Canadiens in the 1982 NHL draft (40th selection overall).

TEAM CAPTAINS: Senior center Jon Francisco (Hermantown, MN) has been entrusted with UMDs team captaincy responsibilities in 2002-03 while senior defenseman Beau Geisler (Coleraine, MN) and junior wing Jesse Unklesbay (Maplewood, MN) will serve as alternate team captains.