Tookenay tinkering for Hewitt Cup run

Brent Tookenay isn’t an official member of the media, but he’s about to face his own form of deadline day pressures.
The Borderland Thunder general manager will have the phone tattooed to his ear this week in an effort to wheel and deal his team into the best roster situation before Friday’s SIJHL signing deadline.
Each team must be down to 21 carded players by the end of this week, and any players signed after that will have to have been released by their former clubs before the deadline.
“I’m very happy with the way things are going,” said Tookenay, whose squad boasts a league-best 19-5-4-1 record heading into their game Wednesday night in Dryden versus the defending SIJHL champion Ice Dogs.
“But the worst thing you can be is satisfied with what you have on the ice.
“That’s not a knock on the players we have,” he stressed. “We’re at 22 carded players right now, but we’ve still got three cards [from the year’s allotted amount] that we can use.
“We’re looking at a couple of things.”
The math says some current Thunder players may be packing their bags soon if Tookenay elects to use all his remaining cards. But nothing’s for certain at this point.
“It’s tough at this time of year,” he noted. “A lot of the wheeling and dealing was done around the Dec. 1 trading deadline. There’s not a lot of movement from league to league right now.
“Usually, every team keeps 20 players and leaves one card open [for injury or other purposes]. We’re not sure what we’re going to do yet,” Tookenay remarked.
The Thunder have undergone a bigger turnover at this juncture of the season than they did last year, which Tookenay said is for good reason.
“Because last year was our first year, we tried to get as many local kids as possible,” he explained. “But by us hosting and being in the Dudley Hewitt Cup, we have to recruit from all over Canada.
“The teams that are coming here are going to be champions of their leagues.”
This season has been a continuous process of preparing for the task ahead, and Tookenay said the efforts of both veterans and newcomers show promise for their chances come Hewitt Cup time April 22-27.
“We knew coming into the year that we had a talented team,” said Tookenay. “Guys like Matt Johnson and Jay Phillips have been strong, and Kevin Webb’s been better than last year.
“Chad Baldwin has really picked up his game. Chris Schaen has been a nice addition, as has Matt Alexander, although we’d like to see him play more physical.
“We knew what [A.J.] Tucker and [Aaron] Grynol could bring. Rob Scales has worked hard, and John Kocsis has really impressed, making some good decisions with the puck,” he added.
The goaltending situation, which has seen the Thunder use a league-high six different goalies this season, now seems stable with the SIJHL’s top two in goals against average on board in starter Dan Hoehne (6-3, 2.53 GAA) and Jamie Munro (8-1-1, 2.69 GAA).
“With a guy like Rob Hrabec here last year, everyone now expects a lot out of our goaltenders,” said Tookenay, referring to the former SIJHL all-star who led the Thunder to the SIJHL final in their debut campaign.
“We got lucky last year. We got the right deal at the right time,” he added. “We just want consistency from our goaltenders.”
The merry-go-round of Thunder players has made life complicated at times for head coach Dave Allison and his staff, but Tookenay has no complaints with how the bench boss and his associates have operated thus far.
“You can’t complain when you’ve only lost six games,” said Tookenay. “The coaching staff has done well. But it’s the players that have had the most adjustment to do, with all the players going in and out.”
There’s SIJHL business to take care of first, but Tookenay has high hopes for his troops come springtime.
“I definitely think we’ve got a team here to win the Dudley Hewitt Cup,” he enthused. “Once we get over our injury bug, we’re going to be pretty solid.”