WOLVES DEAL FOR OFFENSE ON DEFENSE

Matt Niskanen

Thunder Bay, Ont.- On the 16th of this month a trade was made between the Victoria Ronin and the Timberwolves. Two games later, and an official announcement has been made by Thunder Bay management.
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"As many of you are quite aware of by now. We have dealt defenseman, Douglas Murray and a recent 2011 draft pick in Stuart Percy to the Ronin for defensemen, Marek Zidlicky and Matt Niskanen," said general manager Blake Wendt. "Marek has already played two games for us, and has notched an assist in each of those games. He brings another dynamic by providing some much needed offense from our back end. Our power play in particular has recieved a much needed upgrade in acquiring Zidlicky. As a UFA, he will not likely be our lone re-sign. But we may opt to try and bring him back under the right circumstances."
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"In re-acquiring Matt Niskanen [dealt on July 16, 2010], we have a player for next season that we are completely comfortable implementing as a full-time starter. Something we were not going to have the luxury of with Douglas Murray being a UFA and to be lost to free agency for nothing. We were not prepared with the prospects of that, and not at liberty to be in bidding wars next summer for defensemen. Matt has a 3-year contract at a rate well within our budget for next season. It has been cited by some that he was nothing more than a 'throw in' in this deal. For that I can say with all honesty, this deal does not happen without Niskanen in it. He's a young man, still learning the game at arguably the toughest position to adjust to the pro speed. He's had his ups and downs, but we feel that he is most definitely progressing and will continue on towards becoming a dependable blueliner, with very good speed and skating ability to go along with being an offensive threat from the back end."
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As mentioned, Mark Zidlicky has played in two games with the Timberwolves. Wearing  number 4.
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Matt Niskanen was immediately assigned to the Duluth Pups. He has been assigned the same number 5 he wore previously with the Timberwolves.

Thunder Bay, Ont.- For the first time in Corfield Canosa Hockey League history, the game will be brought outdoors!

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On Saturday, January 7th, 2012, the Winnipeg Ferrets will travel the 430 kilometres to the Northwood neighbourhood of Thunder Bay, Ontario to take on the Timberwolves in the inaugural CCHL Heritage Classic.

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The game itself will take place on the league standard 200 foot by 85 foot ice surface with full dashers and glass and played under the same rules. It will be a regular season game with points at stake. That is where everything being the same, ends...

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Located at the head of Lake Superior, a typical Thunder Bay January averages high temperatures in the -9 degrees Celsius [or 16*F].

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The rink will be located at the recreation fields of the Northwood neighbourhood on the westside of Thunder Bay on King's Highway 61, just north of the international airport and south of the Trans Canada Highway. Situated amongst a typical working-class Canadian neighbourhood, and a back drop of a pine-covered mountain, the game promises to bring hockey fans back to the days of playing this great game on backyard rinks and lakes, rivers and ponds.

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"We could have done this anywhere in the city," said Timberwolves general manager Blake Wendt. "But the essence of the game, and the roots are here. Right here in the neighbourhoods and outside. We are thrilled to invite our own closest neighbours in Winnipeg to take part in what should be an awesome experience."

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The two clubs will also don special sweaters for the event...

Available immediately for your holiday gift list at the Wolf Den at Canadian National Gardens in Thunder Bay or the MTS Centre in Winnipeg.

REIMER BLANKS EXPRESS FOR 1ST SHUTOUT

James Reimer

Uniondale, N.Y.- The Timberwolves continued their winning ways on Friday when they held the struggling Express scoreless in Long Island. With rookie netminder, James Reimer recording his first career shutout in stopping all twenty one shots faced.
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With an offense that seems to have leveled off, Thunder Bay's defense and in particular their goaltending, have become a brick wall. Now ranked 5th overall in the league.
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"It's something we knew would eventually come around," said Timberwolves assistant coach, Wes Walz in referring to the club's defense. "We have remarkable goalies and a pretty non-flashy, responsible 'D' corps and knew that our early season struggles in that department we not an accurate reflection of what we really had back there. Now we're finally starting to shine through."
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The Timberwolves players will remain in New York City for the weekend and return to Thunder Bay on Monday. They do not play again until Tuesday, when they welcome the Beverly Hills Lawmasters to Canadian National Gardens. The first of four games in four days, and five in six grueling days.
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"It's going to be a rough week, that's for sure," said centre, Sidney Crosby. "It's nice to have this extended break before. But we're really hot right now, and we would really just rather keep rolling with it."
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Other players were more welcoming of the rest.
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"Screw Sid," joked defenseman Dion Phaneuf. "I've got some Christmas shopping to do."
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3-STARS
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*James Reimer [THU] - 21 saves in first career shutout
**Patrick Sharp [THU] - The lone goal
***Francois Beauchemin [THU] - An assist and a blocked shot [ranking 3rd overall in blocked shots]

WOLVES SWEEP DAYTON IN HOME-AT-HOME

Mikko Koivu

Thunder Bay, Ont.- The suddenly hot Thunder Bay Timberwolves kept rolling on Wednesday with a 2-1 victory over the tough Dayton Musicmen. The win followed a 4-0 thumping in Ohio on Sunday in the first of the home-at-home series.
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"Anytime you can pull ahead of a team sitting right in front of you in the standings, it's huge," said forward Rick Nash after the game. "That's a solid squad over there and we knew this was going to be a big test for us. I think we showed alot of people we are for real."
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Centre, Mikko Koivu opened up the game's scoring while shorthanded at 7:30 into the second period with assists from fellow Finn, Antti Miettinen and Francois Beauchemin.
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Koivu's tally was added to at 11:38 in the same period with Sidney Crosby's 15th goal from Miettinen and Nash with the man-advantage.
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Dayton would cut the lead in half at 15:47 in the third period with Corey Perry's 10th.
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But Henrik Lundqvist would hold down the fort with the late surge from the Musicmen and take the 2-1 win in front of another capacity crowd at Canadian National Gardens.
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The Timberwolves hope to keep things going as they enter into one of the toughest stretches in their schedule. First its a road trip against the Express, where Crosby comes back to Long Island for the first time since being dealt on Friday. Then there is a four day break, followed by a grueling 5 games in 6 days. Including 4 in a row.
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3-STARS
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*Sidney Crosby [THU] - Game-winning goal
**Henrik Lundqvist [THU] - 1 goal against and 31 saves
***Antti Miettinen [THU] - 2 assists
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Game notes: Milan Lucic will miss the next week of action with a lower body injury

LUNDQVIST'S 42 SILENCES MUSICMEN

Lundqvist stellar

Dayton, Ohio- Hoping his early season struggles are behind him. Henrik Lundqvist, the Timberwolves netminder made a strong case for a turn-around on Sunday by shutting out the Musicmen in Dayton.
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"Hank [Lundqvist] is the backbone of this hockey club," remarked Thunder Bay's general manager Blake Wendt. "He's an elite-caliber goalie, one of the best in the game. We need him to come through for us. But we've got to do a better job in front of him, and we have."
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Sophomore centre, Matt Duchene took some pressure off his backstop early, at 1:24 into the game for the Haliburton-native's 7th on the year from newly acquired Martin Erat and Marc Staal. The goal would stand as the only one through twenty minutes. The edge in shots going to the Timberwolves 11-9.
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In the second period was when King Henrik's star shined. While eventually stopping all 20 shots faced in the middle period, the confidence of the group in front of him grew, and tallies from captain Patrick Sharp [11th] and Dion Phaneuf [4th] put the visitors in command of the game.
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"It's huge to have world-class talent back there," said Phaneuf at the final intermission. "Hank is playing out of his mind today. We need to do a better job and limit some of those shots. But he's stellar and we're just playing with a load of confidence in pressing our game here."
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In the third period, the shots did taper off some against Lundqvist. But dramatically for the Timberwolves. Sidney Crosby though made the best of the five total shots for Thunder Bay in the period and notched his league-leading 14th at 18:24 from Rick Nash and Sharp to finish off the Musicmen by a 4-0 shutout for Lundqvist.
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The exuberance of the victory was quelled though by the head coach after the game. Obviously in an effort to not get too overly confident for the rematch on Wednesday.
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"It's a big win for us," said Craig Hartsburg. "We did alot of things right and Henrik was just outstanding for us. But we gave up alot of shots and he bailed us out way more than he should have. That's a proud group over there in the other room, and we can expect nothing but the best out of them in a couple days when they get their chance immediately to redeem themselves. We have to take this win, build on it and prepare ourselves for their push back on Wednesday."
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3-STARS
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*Henrik Lundqvist [THU] - 42 saves in third shutout of the season
**Patrick Sharp [THU] - 1 goal and 2 assists
***Dion Phaneuf [THU] - 1 goal and 1 assist

DOMINANCE IN CALI

Matt Duchene

Beverly Hills, CA- For the first time in what seemed like too long, the Timberwolves played a game under their terms on Monday against the Lawmasters in the 90120.
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Thunder Bay completely dominated the struggling Beverly Hills squad in every facet of the game. Shots [49-19], Face-offs [44-23], power plays [2-6 w/ the man-advantage, and 3 kills] and most importantly, the score...4-1.
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Former Timberwolves defenseman, Niklas Kronwall put the Lawmasters up early in the first, but a pair from Sidney Crosby [11th and 12th] and then Matt Duchene's 6th to go along with the burly Douglas Murray's first on the year, put the game well out of reach and solidified the victory for Thunder Bay.
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Not lost in the hype was the newly acquired, Martin Erat's first point with his new club in picking up the primary assist on Crosby's first. Erat was a member of the Lawmasters up until yesterday, and only met his new teammates on Sunday evening when they arrived in California.
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"It was kind of strange," said Erat after the game. "To get traded is one thing. But to not even leave the arena, and just move my gear over the the visitors room was kind awkward. But as soon as these guys got here, we went to dinner and they welcomed me in right away. Even with all the changes they've gone through with trades this season, this is still a really tight group. It didn't take long to feel like I belonged with these guys. I'm excited about being a Timberwolf."
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Monday's win comes at a perfect time for the Timberwolves. They have the next three days off and don't play again until Friday when they welcome Marian Gaborik and John Tavares back to Thunder Bay when they take on the Long Island Express. A game that will also be Sidney Crosby's first against the club that drafted him. Captain, Patrick Sharp and defenseman Anton Volchenkov are expected to return to the lineup from injury by then.
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3-STARS
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*Sidney Crosby [THU] - 2 goals [1 power play]
**Matt Duchene [THU] - Power play goal and an assist
***Niklas Kronwall [BEV] - 1 goal

HOBBLING WOLVES MAKE ANOTHER MOVE

Martin Erat

Springfield, Mass.- Although a top-5 club in the CCHL, the Thunder Bay Timberwolves are struggling mightily to keep pucks out of the back of their net, and maybe worse... stay healthy.
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Coming off a 2-2 tie at home on Thursday to the Brooklyn Cosmos, they took away a point and lowered their goals against average.
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On Saturday, the result was the same in Springfield against the Homers. The score, but not the health of the Timberwolves. Losing their top shutdown defenseman in Anton Volchenkov for the next week, their captain, Patrick Sharp for the next four days and who had been their second line right winger, Joffrey Lupul for the next month.
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"It's a tough card to draw there," said Timberwolves GM Blake Wendt. "We've had guys dinged up from game-to-game, and just generally nicked up pretty good for the past couple weeks. So to lose some high minute guys like this for extended periods is going to really show our true colours as a team to overcome."
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The loss of Lupul was immediately dealt with and upgraded in the announcement after the game of the acquisition of Martin Erat from Beverly Hills with a fifth round pick in exchange for three prospects and a fourth round pick.
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"This was really a deal that we've gone back-and-forth with for awhile," remarked Wendt. "Erat has been the principal player in this deal for us all along. A counter offer was received just prior to our game this afternoon, it looked good but I wanted to focus on the game at hand. The loss of Lupul pretty much solidified it for me. We were hoping Joffrey would stick on our second line, and we still do in the future. But Erat definately gives us a chance to win right now."
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For Erat, he will stay in Beverly Hills and wait for the Timberwolves to come to him. He will meet his new team on Sunday afternoon for Mondays game against the Lawmasters.
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Erat will wear #13.