Lucas Punkari
There will be a different look both behind the scenes and behind the bench of the Fort Frances Thunderhawks this season as it looks to return to the Allan Cup for a second-straight year in a row and improve on its semi-final showing this past April.
This year will see Kevin Webb and Travis Green as co-managers after Dean Bruyere stepped down following the Allan Cup showdown in Kenora.
“I won’t be involved with the team too much this year, if at all,” Bruyere noted.
“Personally, I just have too much on my plate at the moment so I decided to just take a year off.”
As for the head coaching role, it will be Gary Noga taking over behind the bench from Larry Beck, who is not returning to the squad, while former assistant coach Bruce Elston is now in charge of the International Falls Broncos, along with Thunderhawks’ players Tom Biondich and Ross Johnson.
With Noga’s hiring now set in stone, the process for scheduling games now can begin, with games against arch-rival Kenora Thistles already set.
“Our first game of the season is going to be on Sunday, Dec. 4 in Kenora at 3 p.m., and we will also be hosting Kenora on Jan. 28 and Feb. 18,” Green announced.
“But nothing else has been set in stone yet as we’re still in discussions with the teams out in Manitoba to find out more about their schedules and things of that nature,” he noted.
Fort Frances and Kenora are the only two men’s senior ‘AAA’ teams from Northwestern Ontario, after Thunder Bay was unable to finalize its entry, leaving them as the only two to vie for the Gary Cook Cup.
“The playdowns between the two teams will be taking place from March 16-18, and the location for those games will be decided upon by Hockey Northwestern Ontario on Saturday, Nov. 12,” Green explained.
“But with Kenora hosting the Allan Cup last [season], and there not being any playdowns at all, we’re hoping that the playdowns will take place here in Fort Frances,” he added.
The next item on the docket for the Thunderhawks is to determine which players from last year’s squad will be able to come back—and what holes will need to be filled prior to that first game in Kenora.
“From what I understand, we should have a lot of returning players,” Webb said.
“We will lose a few guys, as well, but we got some new guys coming in so we should be all right,” he reasoned.
“The guys have been starting to go out and play on the ice, as well, as the ice time most of the guys play at became more available after Thanksgiving, so we’re starting to get a feel over who will be out there,” echoed Green.
The Thunderhawks also will be holding a meeting tonight (Oct. 19) to discuss when the first practices of the season will be held, which, in turn, depends on what they can get for ice time.
“Last season we had a weekly schedule and it was hard to try and get the guys in from out-of-town sometimes,” noted Green.
“So this year, we’re going to try and run a practice just before our games and hopefully have everyone in for them.
“Personally, I would like to get some practice time in November but we haven’t finalized anything as of yet for that,” he added.
“Plus, it’s a busy time of the year when it comes to getting ice time, so you are sort of stuck with what you can get.”
Nevertheless, with many of the question marks starting to be answered for the team, Green is excited about getting the Thunderhawks rolling yet again.
“I think we should have a good season this year,” he enthused.
“When it comes down to February and March, it should be really heavy competition between us and Kenora as we go into playdowns.
“And if we can win that, we’ll go down to Toronto in March to play the winners from down in southern Ontario, and that’s always a challenge in of itself,” Green stressed.
