THUNDER BAY – Andrew Wilkins is looking for some goal scorers.
When the puck drops to start the 2021-22 OUA men’s hockey campaign, the Lakehead Thunderwolves coach will be without his top three producers from 2019-20, who combined to score 41 of the seventh-place team’s 85 goals that season.
All three left with eligibility remaining.
Josh Laframboise departed for a shot at the North American professional ranks, Tomas Soustal headed overseas to play pro at home and Daniel Del Paggio graduated and decided to take a job in Thunder Bay, forgoing his final two seasons in a Lakehead uniform.
“We’re going to have to figure it out, for sure,” Wilkins said. “Obviously it’s a lot of goals with Tomas and Daniel over point per game and then Josh was third in the league in scoring. There are a lot of goals to make up for.
“With the guys we have coming in, it’ll obviously be a different look. We’ll just have to find different ways to get it done. We really relied on those top three or four guys last year, with lots of ice time and lots of opportunity. There’s just going to be that opportunity for the new guys coming in.”
Wilkins isn’t alone in the OUA coaching fraternity.
The league never started in 2020-21, and given the nature of university hockey, it was inevitable that some players would finish up their schooling during the pandemic and choose to move on with their lives, rather than sticking around to squeeze another season or two of hockey out before seeking their fame and fortune elsewhere.
“I can’t really speak to every team, but I know there have been a couple of transfers in the league, guys looking to stay closer to home and stuff like that. But I think every team does it their own way, where we’re basically taking advantage of rebuilding, bringing in 10 new faces,” Wilkins said recently.
Also lost to graduation were goaltender Nic Renyard, defenceman Patrick Murphy and forward Callum Fryer.
Regardless of who is in camp, Wilkins said he and the players will just be glad to be together again and on the ice preparing for meaningful hockey, something the Thunderwolves have not done since being ousted by Ryerson in the 2020 playoffs.
Even a three-month gap in home games, a quirk of this year’s OHL schedule, exacerbated by Fort William Gardens hosting the Scotties Tournament of Hearts early next year, isn’t enough to rattle Wilkins, a former T-Wolves captain as a player who took over the reins of the team prior to the start of the 2018-19 campaign.
“It’ll be all right. Just to get out there and play and have a schedule where we can compete and play in the OUA, wherever we are, on the road or at home, that’s exciting.”
Lakehead has yet to announce this year’s recruitment class.
