Thunderwolves add plenty of bulk in offseason

Apparently size does matter.

At least it does in Joel Scherban’s world.

Believing in the old adage, go big or stay home, Scherban chose the former, recruiting a class of giants to ensure his Lakehead Thunderwolves hockey squad doesn’t get pushed around by the likes of Western and McGill in 2011-12.

Nowhere is his commitment to growth more obvious than on the blueline, where Scherban hopes to stuff his collection of over-sized freshmen into the gaping holes left by the departure of captain Jordan Smith and veterans Andy Zulyniak and Pierre-Marc Guilbault.

Scherban has six freshman rearguards in camp, including 6-foot-5 Riley McIntosh, 6-foot-4 Danick Malouin and 6-foot-3 Mitch Fillman.

This is a team that won’t be pushed around anymore, the third-year coach said as training camp opened on Tuesday at the Tournament Centre.

“We wanted to get bigger and tougher to play against in our own rink, especially in the playoffs when the grit and the toughness really show through,” said Scherban, who plans to carry eight or nine defencemen on the roster, at least two more than were regularly available last season.

Also seeking spots on the defence are Chris de la Lande and Luke Maw, with 6-foot-5 red-shirt James DeLory biding his time until he’s eligible to play next year.

It all stacks up to plenty of competition for both newcomers and returnees, a situation Scherban is OK with. As to where they’ll play, he’s content to let the cards fall where they may.

“It’s interesting. I think it’s going to play its way out. As a coaching staff we don’t have one or two defencemen coming in we think are going to play this role or that role. We think it’s going to be a battle. It probably won’t be over before the regular season starts.”

Fifth-year veteran Mitch Maunu, a leading candidate to replace Smith wearing the ‘C’, is one of four returnees looking to hold onto their blue-line jobs.

He welcomes the competition.

“From Day 1 everyone’s going to be battling hard and hopefully that carries over from practice. It’s only going to make us a better team throughout the whole year. We’re going to be a very competitive team, a very tough team to play against,” said Maunu, whose Wolves went 16-9-3 in 2010-11, only to be swept from the playoffs in the first round by Waterloo, the first time in team history they didn’t win at least one post-season series.

Maunu said he thinks his final season in a Lakehead uniform will be different.

“We’ve got some big guys in and a little more grit this year, I think,” he said, helping Scherban run the early stages of the season-opening practice.

“I think that’s what we needed to address from last year and I think Joel went out and did a good job of doing that. It’s not just being big. I think we’ve brought in guys with a lot of character. It’s what we’ve been lacking the last couple of years, guys with the right attitude coming in to work hard to win a championship.”

Claw marks: Rounding out the 11 recruits in camp are forwards Mike Hammond, Keith Grondin, Jake Carrick and Jason Grecica, and goaltender Jeff Bosch … Returning forward Brennan Menard was on the sidelines with an arm injury … Also gone from last year’s squad are forwards Brock McPherson, Kris Hogg and Arron Alphonso and goalie Kyle Moir … The Wolves open pre-season play on Sept. 23 at home against Trois Rivieres.