It’s been a little more than three years since the Lakehead Thunderwolves were a top 10 hockey team.
The one-time perennial contenders exited the Canadian Interuniversity Sport rankings on Nov. 20, 2012, never returned and continued their downward spiral this season.
In fact, the team hit rock bottom.
For the first time in LU’s 15-year run, the retooling Thunderwolves missed the OUA playoffs, falling four points shy of eighth-place Toronto.
As easy as it would be to blame the defence, the offence wasn’t much better.
The Wolves allowed 111 goals, the second-highest total in team history. But they only scored 77 goals in 28 games, a school low.
All is not lost.
Rookie Billy Jenkins looks like the real deal, a player the Wolves can build an offence around. He led the team in goals, assists, points, power-play goals and, unlike recent top players, showed a knack for staying out of the penalty box. In fact, he didn’t make a single trip to the sin bin all season long – non-conference games included.
In nets, the Thunderwolves look like they’ve finally found their guy.
Devin Green posted a 3.61 goals against average and .898 save percentage. The numbers aren’t spectacular, but considering how little help he got at times, suggest there’s plenty of room for improvement.
He certainly showed he can handle a heavy workload.
On the blue-line, Jake Ringuette looks like a nice find. A former teammate of Justin Sefton in junior, Ringuette collected 15 points, was steady on the power play and not out of place in his own end of the rink. Linden Springer also showed promise, though even his mother was upset at the number of penalties he took.
Rookie Garick Gray, a winger turned centre, was a pleasant surprise out of the Tier II ranks, especially in the second half when he found his OUA groove, helping the team erase a horrible start to win seven of its final 14 games down the stretch.
Coach Bill McDonald acknowledged he needs to find a top-notch scorer – or two – in the off-season. Hopefully Cody Alcock, the team’s first-half MVP, can recover from knee surgery and return to form in 2016-17. They need his offensive ability.
Just four players recorded seven goals or more. In 2009-10, when they scored a team-best 138 goals and played their way to nationals, they had 11 with seven or more.
Clearly the third- and fourth-liners have to step up next season.
Brennen Dubchak, E.J. Faust, Nathan Cull, Austin McDonald, David Quesnele and Tyson Hynnes combined to score six goals in a collective 117 OUA games.
It’s easy for other teams to focus on shutting down the likes of Jenkins and Alcock, knowing the back-end of the lineup isn’t likely to contribute.
McDonald has his work cut out for him. Fans are taking a wait-and-see approach, with several attendance counts dipping south of 2,000 this past season.
An 8-16-4 record will do that.
The playoffs aren’t far out of reach, but squeaking in isn’t the Lakehead way.
Below, my picks for team awards:
MVP: Billy Jenkins led team in all major offensive categories, zero penalty minutes.
Top rookie: Billy Jenkins (see above)
Top defenceman: Justin Sefton was Mr. Consistency, the Thunder Bay native played in all situations and played well; a future captain.
Most improved: Dylan Butler spent most of his freshman campaign on the sidelines, but stepped in and showed his worth in Year 2, scoring four goals and 13 points in 23 games.
Best defensive forward: Kelin Ainsworth may or may not return next season. He scored both the team’s shorthanded goals and could be counted on not to make mistakes in his own end.
Breakout candidate: Sam Schutt showed flashes of the 20-goal scorer he was in junior and just needs to find a bit more consistency next season. Devin Green is another option in this category.
