WOLVES DRAW REMPARTS IN FIRST ROUND

Captain Ballard hopes to lead club into and past first round of playoffs

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Thunder Bay, Ont.- The Timberwolves closed out the 2010-11 CCHL regular season with 106 points and a win on Tuesday over the North Dakota Ibex. That combined with a Denver Spurs loss, locked in the 5th overall ranking for Thunder Bay. Who will now take on the 2008-09 CCHL Cup champion-Quebec Remparts in the opening round of the playoffs.

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"It's great to be back," remarked Timberwolves general manager, Blake Wendt. "We pretty much did what we wanted there at the end of the season. We hoped to climb as high as we could up the standings. A tough split of two points in Beverly Hills the other day kept us from getting up to fourth. But we still played well, played sharp and avoided those dreaded late season injuries that sometimes hamper your playoff aspirations. We're excited to get going and see how we fair. It's a whole new season and anything can happen."

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In the Remparts, the Timberwolves are taking on a 12th-ranked club with their own aspirations of playoff success. The last time they were in the post-season, they won the Cup. Although this new Quebec hockey club is rebuilt, the bones are still there and the banner in their rafters has not faded.

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"We have the utmost respect for Mr. Leopardi and the Remparts," said Wendt. "Despite rankings and records, we've played close all season and we both share a 2-2 head-to-head record. If we can get our offense going early and often, that will be key. Otherwise our defenses are very similar and we both have very good goaltending. They say defenses win championships. But offense will have to be the deciding factor with this match-up. It should be a good series. Hopefully we can come out on top."

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Although lineups are still hush until likely the warm-up or even introductions, it is a given that the Timberwolves will take with them three rookies to at least start the playoffs. Centres John Tavares and Matt Duchene will still have to earn their minutes. But expect both to see their first post-season action in Game 1. With them, defenseman Carl Gunnarsson has done nothing but impress in his first go around. The Swedish rearguard played routinely in the top-6 and seen plenty of time on both the power play and will killing penalties.

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The Timberwolves take on the Remparts on Wednesday and Thursday at Canadian National Gardens. Then both clubs head to Quebec for games three and four and alternate the remaining three if necessary. The match-up is the only all Canadian contest in the first round.