Cats Home Has New Name

The home of the Thunder Bay Border Cats has a new name.  The Cats will play their Northwoods League home games at TBaytel Park under an expanded partnership with the local company.  Port Arthur Stadium opened its doors in the summer of 1951.  Thunder Bay's first home game is May 27th against the St. Cloud Rox.  Over 115 Northwoods League players have moved on to play Major League Baseball.    

Alcock Leads Wolves

It was the Cody Alcock show in T.O. as the Lakehead Thunderwolves took game one of their OUA West Semi Final Series against Ryerson Wednesday night.  Alcock, a freshman winger, scored 4 times as the Wolves routed the Rams 7-0 at Ryerson's new rink inside Maple Leaf Gardens.  Jeff Bosch turned aside 45 shots for the shutout.  Mike Hammond, Ryan Magill and Carson Dubchak also scored for the Wolves who held period leads of 2-0 and 5-0. LU can wrap up the series with another win Friday night at the Gardens.  Game time is 7:30. If necessary, the third and final game of the series is also scheduled for Thunder Bay at 7:30 on Saturday night.    

Ryerson Up Next for T-Wolves

The LU Thunderwolves will face the Ryerson Rams in the best of three OUA West Semi Finals beginning Wednesday in Toronto.  Game two is set for the Gardens this Friday and game three if necessary would be played Saturday night also in Thunder Bay.  Ryerson finished third in the division, three points behind second place Lakehead.  The Wolves completed an opening round sweep of York with a 5-2 win over the Lions Saturday night at the Gardens before 2,298 fans.  Meanwhile, first place Western survived its first round scare by thumping Guelph 6-1 in the third game of their series Sunday night in London. The Mustangs now advance to take on the Windsor Lancers in the other West Division Semi Final.

Thunderwolves Game Pushed Back

Game two between the Lakehead Thunderwolves and the York Lions is being pushed back due to the poor weather. York was scheduled to land in Thunder Bay last night but the weather re-routed their flight to Winnipeg instead. Game two will now be played Saturday at 7:30 with game three (if necessary) scheduled for Sunday, also at 7:30 from the Gardens. The box office will open at 10 Sunday morning and be open until game time.

Wolves Take Opener

The Thunderwolves took the opener in their OUA West Quarter Final Series, beating the York Lions in Toronto 4-2 Wednesday night.  Jeff Bosch stopped 34 shots and Mike Hammond had the game winner.  David Quesnele, Brennan Menard and Cody Alcock, into an empty net,  also scored for the Wolves who held period leads of 2-0 and 3-0.  The Wolves can wrap up the best-of-three series with another win in game two Friday night at the Gardens at 7:30.  Meanwhile, the basketball seasons at Lakehead are over after opening playoff losses last night.  In men's play, Western knocked off Lakehead at the Thunderdome 68-65.  In Hamilton, the Lady Wolves fell 68-44 to McMaster.

Brown Leads Stars

Cary Brown notched the hat trick to lead the Thunder Bay North Stars to a 6-3 win over the English River Miners Thursday night at the Fort William Gardens.  Kris Kellaway, Brett Wolframe, and Robert McLean also scored for the North Stars, who ran their second place record 32-9-5. The fourth place Miners dropped to 18-22-4.  Eric Mann got the win in goal for Thunder Bay stopping 20 shots.  The Stars and Miners play for the third straight time Saturday night in Ear Falls.  

North Stars Top Wilderness

Matthias Gardiman notched the hat trick and Zach Grzelewski scored a pair as the Thunder Bay North Stars downed Wisconsin 6-3 to complete a home and home series sweep of the Wilderness in Spooner.  The Stars beat the Wilderness 4-2 on Saturday night at Fort William Gardens.  Cary Brown also scored for the Stars, who improved their second place record to 31-9-5.  Eric Mann turned aside 29 shots for his 18th win of the season. The loss dropped the last place Wilderness to 4-39-0.  Thunder Bay plays host to the English River Miners this Thursday at the Gardens at 7:30.  

Currie Brier Bound

For the first time since 2003, a Thunder Bay rink is heading to the Canadian Men's Curling Championship. In an-all Thunder Bay final, the Jeff Currie foursome scored a 9-4 win over the Brian Adams Junior rink to capture the Northern Ontario title Sunday in Timmins.  Adams finished first in round robin play with a record of 6-1.  Currie now moves on to the Brier in Kamloops beginning March 1st.  The last Thunder Bay rink to advance to the Brier was Scott Henderson in 2003 in Halifax.

Stars Blank Iron Rangers

Eric Mann made 31 saves for the shutout as the Thunder Bay North Stars blanked the Minnesota Iron Rangers 3-0 Tuesday night in Hoyt Lakes. Ryan Walsh, Zach Grzelewski and Daniel Delpaggio scored the Stars, who held periods leads of 1-0 and 2-0.  The win improved Thunder Bay's record to 29-8-5 and the Stars moved seven points ahead of the third place Iron Rangers in the SIJHL standings.  The North Stars play host to the first place Fort Frances Lakers this Friday night at the Fort William Gardens at 7:30.