MacDonald Joins New Pack
** By Ben Leeson, The Sudbury Star
One year after wearing the ‘C’ for the Sudbury Wolves, Michael MacDonald will look to earn a few more letters at the end of his name.
This fall, MacDonald will attend Lakehead University in his hometown of Thunder Bay, where he will pursue a bachelor of commerce and suit up for the Lakehead Thunderwolves hockey team.
“I had a pretty good idea that I wanted to go there,” said MacDonald, 21. “I wanted to go to university before I went pro, because I thought that would be a smart thing to do.
“And the biggest thing is that I’ll be playing in my hometown, for a team that has the best fan base in the CIS.”
Lakehead, a perennial powerhouse in Canadian university hockey, with several Canadian Hockey League veterans on its roster, regularly draws more than 3,000 fans.
That’s better than some OHL teams.
“I’m going to love playing there,” MacDonald said.
The Thunderwolves announced MacDonald’s commitment to the team on Tuesday, along with fellow OHL veterans Luke Judson and Carson Dubchak.
“I’m really good friends with both those guys, especially Judson,” MacDonald said. “We have been talking for a while about going back and playing there, so it’s great to be doing it together.
“They already have a strong team and after adding us three, it looks pretty good for the future. I’m excited for next year.”
MacDonald hasn’t given up on playing professional hockey.
“Not at all,” he said. “I definitely intend to go there, maybe to Europe, but after I get my degree.
“I thought that was the smartest thing for someone in my position, who doesn’t have an NHL contract.”
A four-year OHLer, MacDonald will receive a minimum scholarship of tuition, textbooks and compulsory fees for each year he played in Ontario’s top junior league.
“Passing up that scholarship would be crazy,” he said.
After all, it wasn’t earned easily. MacDonald battled injuries for much of his year-and-a-half in Sudbury.
Acquired in November 2010 in a trade with the London Knights, the speedy winger became one of Sudbury’s most consistent scorers and was on pace for a second-straight 25- goal campaign when a broken collarbone knocked him out of the lineup for several weeks.
Returning late in the regular season, he was sidelined again with a serious knee injury that required surgery in the off-season.
He didn’t return until last November, but Wolves head coach Trent Cull was impressed by the way he dealt with adversity and named him captain.
It took MacDonald a few weeks to find his feet, but he seemed to be returning to form before a devastating hit by Niagara IceDogs defenceman Dougie Hamilton landed him back in sick bay with a concussion.
He missed several more weeks before returning late in the season, but his team struggled down the stretch and was swept by the Brampton Battalion in the opening round of the playoffs.
Few knew it, but several Wolves, including Michael Sgarbossa, Johan Mattsson and MacDonald, were still playing hurt.
MacDonald suffered another knee injury, this time to his posterior cruciate ligament (PCL), but it wasn’t enough to require surgery.
That was good news, at least, as it allowed MacDonald to keep his full-time job as a labourer for The Dalron Group, a local developer.
“I’m just working for now and resting these brutal knees,” MacDonald said. “Then, in July and August, I’ll start working out hard again and to get ready for the season.”
He doesn’t mind spending a few more months in Sudbury. He insists he has enjoyed his time here, despite his injury woes.
“I was just frustrated with the injuries,” MacDonald said. “I like Sudbury, it’s a great organization. It’s just that since I came here, I didn’t have any luck. Maybe wearing No. 13 wasn’t a very good start. I was never 100% and I couldn’t show the kind of player I could be. It was tough, just one injury after the other, and serious ones, too. That was the only downfall.
“But I’m glad I came here. I got to be the captain of an OHL team and I have no regrets.”
He hopes to make his home in Northern Ontario, preferably Thunder Bay, when his hockey career is over.
“That’s the plan,” MacDonald said. “I’d love to buy one of those nice lake houses. That is, if they’re not all sold by then.”
