Lakehead Thunderwolves men's hockey assistant coach Colin Zulianello and five former Lakehead players will get a chance at some historic Canadian hardware when he and the Thunder Bay Twins head to Steinbach, Manitoba for the Allan Cup Championships; running April 13-18. Joining Coach Zulianello on the Twins will be former Wolves Craig Priestlay, Robert Hillier, Dene Poulin, Jeff Adduono, and Jarryd Brend. Zulianello is the starting netminder for the Twins and the goaltending coach for the Thunderwolves.
The Allan Cup will entering its second century of competition as this will be 101st year of competition for the trophy; symbolic of Senior AAA amateur supremacy in Canada since 1908. The Cup was played for as a challenge cup from 1909 to 1918, then competed for by Canada West vs. Canada East champions from 1919-91 (with tourney exceptions in 1981 and 89) and finally as a round robin tourney of regional senior champions since the 1991-92 season.
Thunder Bay has a rich history with the Allan Cup as the city and one of its predecessor cities (Port Arthur) before amalgamation have won more Allan Cups (10) than any other city (Toronto and Winnipeg have 9 titles each). Thunder Bay has had 19 finalists with 10 winners.
The winners were the Port Arthur Bearcats with 4 titles (1924-25, 25-26, 28-29, 38-39), the Thunder Bay Twins with 5 titles (74-75, 83-84, 84-85, 87-88, 88-89) and the Thunder Bay Bombers with one championship (2004-05). The Twins five championships are the most for any single team while the Bearcats seven finals appearances are a single team record. All the Bearcats and Twins championships came in playoff series (88-89 being a tourney with a final best-of-three series) while the Bombers win came in the round robin tourney format that has been played since 1991-92.
The local finalists who did not win were the Bearcats three times (1929-30, 34-35, 41-42), the Fort William Beavers twice (1933-34, 54-55), the Thunder Bay Twins once (1990-91), the Fort William Thundering Herd once (1926-27), the Fort William Blues once (1931-32), and the Port Arthur Shipbuilders once (1943-44).
Northwestern Ontario has a true affinity for the Allan Cup as the Fort Frances Canadians also won in 1951-52 and lost the final in 1950-51. The Kenora Thistles (1907 Stanley Cup Champions) also made a challenge for the Allan Cup in 1911 but lost.
The last Thunder Bay team to win the Allan Cup, the Thunder Bay Bombers who did it in 2005, had a squad that featured seven former Thunderwolves players on the roster; Priestlay, Hillier, and Adduono, who are on the Twins this year, along with Cory McEachran (2005 Allan Cup All Tourney Goaltender), Mike Jacobsen, Matt Kenny, and Tyler Williamson.
There is also another historical connection between Canadian university hockey and the Allan Cup as the University of Toronto (1920-21), the University of Manitoba (1927-28), and Queens University (1908-09) have won Allan Cup championships; Toronto and Manitoba in playoff series and Queens in a challenge match. The University of Saskatchewan also made it to the finals in 1922-23 but lost.
Coach Zulianello, a Thunder Bay native, played for the Thunder Bay Flyers Junior team (USHL) and four years for Colorado College in the NCAA. He was signed as a free agent by the NHLs Phoenix Coyotes and then played four seasons of professional hockey in the AHL and ECHL.
Zulianello just completed his first year as the Wolves goaltender coach while getting his Education degree at Lakehead and was keen to get back to competitive hockey. After Hockey Northwestern Ontario was given a berth at the Allan Cup; he joined the Twins and they won the HNO berth by defeating the Kenora Thistles 2-1 in their best-of-three qualifying series.
Zulianello said it took a little time to find his playing form against Kenora. I think it wasnt just me personally, but as a team together as we hadnt played many games together and it took us a while to coordinate our efforts. We started with a lot of individuals trying hard in the first game but in the second and third games we started to gel and become comfortable as a team and we got better as the series went on.
The Twins will be competing against the host Steinbach North Stars, the Manitoba Champion South East Prairie Thunder, the Ontario Major League Hockey Champion Dundas Real McCoys, the Saskatchewan champion Loydminster Border Kings, and the Pacific champion which will be either the Fort St. John Flyers or the Bentley Generals.
Zulianello said he is looking forward to the chance to win a national championship. Absolutely, I think every guy in our locker room is here to win and it would be a great thrill to win a national title. That is our goal and its an excellent opportunity for all of us to even compete for a national championship. The team is looking better and better every practice and come April 13th I think well be ready to go.
This years Twins squad is mostly a young team with a couple veterans like Kevin Hoogsteen (North Dakota NCAA/European pro) and three of the five former Wolves from the 2005 Bombers squad. It is made up of a lot of young Superior International Junior Hockey League (SIJHL) grads and NCAA grads like Zulianello, Mike Campaner (Colgate), and Joe Ritson (Denver and minor pro).
The Twins even have a Staal on its roster for good measure; in this case former Guelph Gryphons player Ian Staal; cousin of the famed NHL Staals from Thunder Bay. This years Twins team has one final Lakehead connection; rugged defenceman Eric Rice did play-by-play commentary for some Thunderwolves home videwebcast broadcasts four seasons ago.
The six-team round robin tourney is split into two pools and Thunder Bay will be in a pool with host Steinbach and the Pacific champion. The Twins will play the hosts on Monday, April 13th at 8:00 pm CST and then take on the Pacific champions on Wednesday, April 15th at 8:00 pm CST. All six teams will then proceed to a knockout playoff round until a new Allan Cup Champion is crowned on Saturday, April 18th.