October 5, 2007 - HAMILTON, Ont. As another Ontario University Athletics (OUA) mens hockey season gets set to take to the ice tonight, the west conference will see some changes this season.
The UOIT Ridgebacks join the OUA mens hockey conference for their inaugural season of play. They enter the league playing in the mid west division with Brock, Guelph and York. Due to the addition, Laurier has since moved to an already very competitive far west division joining Lakehead, Waterloo, Western and Windsor.
The west division also sees three new head coaches to various programs. The Windsor Lancers welcome Pete Belliveau behind the bench. Belliveau joins the Lancers after spending the past 6 seasons with the Lakehead University Thunderwolves. During that time, he led Lakehead to an impressive OUA regular season record of 91-44-11 and a 26-12 playoff record. His teams were unbeatable at home in the playoffs, as they enjoyed a 13-0 record at Fort William Gardens in the playoffs during his tenure
The Lakehead Thunderwolves in turn welcome Don McKee to the program. McKee joins the Thunderwolves after after a very impressive coaching career in the professional, university, and junior ranks. McKee joins the Wolves after six seasons as Head Coach of the Odessa Jackelopes of the Central Hockey League (and WPHL) where he compiled an overall record of 241-159-52 (.600 Winning %). McKee led Odessa to three divisional titles and one Governors Cup Regular Season League title in 2002. He was twiced named Coach of the Year with Odessa and also received the CHL Kozuback Award for outstanding contributions to CHL hockey.
Finally the Guelph Gryphons see Shawn Camp as their new head coach. Camp, an Ottawa native was an assistant coach with Memorial Cup champions Hull Olympiques (1997), and head coach/general manager of Hawkesbury of the Ontario Central Junior Hockey League (1998-2000). No stranger to the CIS, he was also an assistant coach with the Ottawa Gee Gees from 1990-1995.
FAR WEST DIVISION
LAKEHEAD THUNDERWOLVES
2006: 3rd in far west division (13-10-3-2)
2007: Open on the road versus the Windsor Lancers, October 5 @ 7:05 pm
New Head Coach Don McKee and his Thunderwolves are coming off a very tough and competitive training camp and will field a roster of 23 players for the 2007-08 campaign; two goaltenders, eight defencemen, and 13 forwards. Lakehead will look for scoring and leadership from veterans like Tobias Whelan, Mike Wehrstedt, Dan Speer, and new captain Andrew Brown; and hope to see strong offense from sophomore Mark Soares who was OUA West Rookie of the Year last season.
Goaltender Chris Whitley has looked sharp and fit at the Lakehead camp and he will be ably backed by freshman Kyle Moir. Other freshmen to watch are forwards Kris Hogg and Devin Welsh as well as defensemen Mitch Maunu, Pierre-Marc Guilbault, and Jordan B. Smith.
The Wolves will look to Richard Molenaar, Matt Maisonneuve, and Brock McPherson to play strong two-way hockey and sophomore Nathan Breukelman could surprise people this season with his playmaking skills.
With the addition of the three strong freshmen defensemen; Lakehead looks to have perhaps its strongest defensive corps ever, anchored by veteran Drew Kivell. Jordan C. Smith and his rugged blue line presence returns for his sophomore season as will Dan Rogers. OUA All Star Matt Jacques and Andy Zulyniak will be counted on to add offense from the blue line.
LAURIER GOLDEN HAWKS
2006: 1st in mid west division (22-5-1-0)
2007: Open at home versus the Waterloo Warriors, October 10 @ 7:30 pm
The Golden Hawk mens hockey program will return to the ice this season with many familiar faces. The Golden Hawks look to finish off where they left off after losing in the national semi-final to Moncton 5-4 in overtime last season. Forward Mark Voakes