Rebuild was planned says Thunderwolves brass on slow start to season

Despite a disastrous 0-7-1 start, Lakehead Thunderwolves hockey coach Bill McDonald’s job is safe.

Club president Rory Cava and school athletic director Tom Warden each gave the veteran bench boss a stamp of approval on Monday, saying the current rebuilding process was a collective decision – as were many of the recruits the team went after in the off-season.

“Good coaches go through tough times,” Warden said in an exclusive interview with tbnewswatch.com, stressing McDonald is the coach to get the job done and put the Wolves back on track as one of the top university hockey teams in Canada.

Cava thinks they’re already on their way, even though the results don’t show it. The Wolves have scored just 14 goals this season, allowing 36. The penalty kill is in the bottom four in the country and the power play only a few notches higher. The goaltending numbers aren’t much better. But it’s going to take time, Cava said. 

“We really worked hard recruiting this year, so maybe this process just has to play out,” Cava said.

The simple solution might be to rip the roster apart and go out and grab a bunch of mid-season recruits to take their place.

The not-for-profit Wolves have had middling results adding players at the Christmas break in the past – Brock McPherson and Jordan Smith immediately spring to mind as success stories.

But other players brought on-ice talent and were disasters in the dressing room.

That won’t happen again, Cava said.

“Our immediate issue is to make sure we’re building this team properly,” Cava said, adding it doesn’t mean if the right player comes along the team wouldn’t add to the second-half line-up.

Warden, who played for McDonald with the Thunder Bay Senators,hopes a dwindling fan base that’s shrunk to an average of about 2,100 paid tickets this season – down from closer to 3,000 a decade ago – sticks around. 

He acknowledged with 17 first- and second-year players on the roster there will be growing pains. They’re inevitable, Warden said, addressing fan concerns, which have grown louder as the losses mount.

“We understand that you’re going to be frustrated. We understand that 0-8 isn’t good, but work with us in the sense that we’re trying to build this program so that we’re good every single year for the future,” Warden said, comparing the task to the Toronto Maple Leafs’ in-progress retooling.

“I think we want to make sure our product goes on the ice every single night and works hard every single night and even if we don’t win, you can say that was an enjoyable game,” Warden said.

He’s seen signs of that this year, pointing to the likes of rookie forwards Sam Schutt and Billy Jenkins, freshman goalie Devin Green and second-year defenceman Justin Sefton as building blocks for what could eventually lead to a Thunderwolves resurgence.

The schedule-maker hasn’t helped, four of Lakehead’s losses coming at the hands of top 10 stalwarts UQTR and McGill. With Western and Windsor on the horizon, finding that first win won’t get any easier.  But they’re not using the schedule as an excuse.

“Did we expect to be 0-8? No,” Cava said. “We thought we’d be a .500 team or better.”

The Thunderwolves,swept at home by Nipissing, take to the road the next two weekends, returning to Fort William Gardens on Nov. 27 and 28 for a pair against the University of Toronto.