OHL 20 in 20: Sudbury Wolves
By Mark McKelvie @Mark14McKelvie
The Sudbury Wolves have a new bench boss with high hopes for his first season in the Big Nickel.
Paul Fixter took over as Head Coach of the Sudbury Wolves when Trent Cull resigned his post for a spot in the American Hockey League over the summer.
The chance to be a Head Coach was right up Fixter’s alley having spent the past five seasons as an Associate Coach with the Kitchener Rangers, and says he plans to bring a Western Conference approach to the Wolves.
“Being in the west with Kitchener and playing against London, Guelph and all those good teams, it is a fast tempo and that’s what we would like to bring here,” said Fixter. “We want a team that attacks with a fun style of hockey that is fun to watch for the fans.”
Fixter joins a Wolves squad who finished fifth in the Eastern Conference last season and knocked off the Brampton Battalion in the first round of the playoffs. The post-season play allowed many of the young Wolves the opportunity to get a taste of success in the post-season which will be of significant importance this season if expectations are to be met.
“We’ve got a good core of returning players and we are deep in areas that you need to be deep in so we expect big things from this hockey club,” Fixter said. “I think we are going to be a team that has high expectations of ourselves and our jobs as coaches is to push the players to get what we want out of them.”
The depth of this year’s returning Wolves will help Fixter as he gets to know his club. As a young team last year that finished the season with two overagers, the Wolves will be fortunate to keep almost their entire group of forwards together this season.
Returning up front are the club’s top three scorers from a season ago in Mathew Campagna, Nathan Pancel and Buffalo Sabres third round pick Nicholas Baptiste. Joining them are second year imports Dominik Kahun and Dominik Kubalik who finished their rookie campaigns with 40 and 34 points respectively.
On defence, Kevin Raine and Jeff Corbett will be the veteran leaders and will be able to help mentor the Wolves first round pick from April’s Priority Selection, Kyle Capobianco.
“Your first rounder is expected to be a special player because you’ve taken him in the first round,” said Fixter. “Kyle certainly doesn’t look out of place and he is an exciting player.”
Capobianco helped anchor his Minor Midget Oakville Rangers to an OHL Cup championship a season ago and was one of three Rangers taken in the first round of the Priority Selection. He’s also the second straight defenceman selected by the Wolves in the first round joining 2012 top pick Conor Cummins on a blueline of developing young stars.
Outside of the draft, the Wolves also welcome two new faces acquired through an off-season trade with the Erie Otters that brought in forward Connor Crisp, a third round pick of the Montreal Canadiens, and overage defenceman Jimmy McDowell who will both add to the veteran savvy lineup.
Crisp enters his fourth OHL season coming off a 36 point campaign with the Otters, and McDowell moves in as an overager looking to finish off his OHL career on a high note after a pair of losing seasons in Erie.
Even with a deep lineup every team with hopes to contend for the top spot requires a solid goaltender and the Wolves will be backstopped by one of the league’s best in Franky Palazzese who posted the fifth lowest goals-against-average and fourth highest save percentage in 2012-13.
The overager, acquired from the Rangers at the trade deadline along with 2012 first rounder Matt Schmalz, will play his first full season with the Wolves and his first full season as a primary starter in the OHL and could be the perfect mentor for 15-year-old rookie Troy Timpano who was the first goaltender chosen in the Priority Selection at 27th overall.
The fifth place finish in the Eastern Conference last season was a good accomplishment for last season’s club, but Fixter has goals to finish higher and he isn’t shying away from expressing them.
“It is certainly my expectation (to finish higher than fifth) and it better be for the players because we have high expectations here this year.”
With high expectations all around for the Wolves this season, Fixter won’t have much time to breathe as he jumps head first into a new season however his attitude and optimism should favour the club moving forward.
“I’ve come in here for one reason and that is to try and give this hockey club a chance to better themselves and the players have got that message and will hear it on continual basis.”
Click here to watch the Wolves’ 2013 OHL Priority Selection picks.
ontariohockeyleague.com will feature one team each day in advance of the 2013-14 season which begins Thursday September 19.
Read other OHL 20 in 20 season previews:
Central Division: Barrie Colts, Mississauga Steelheads, Niagara IceDogs, North Bay Battalion,
Midwest Division: Erie Otters, Guelph Storm, Kitchener Rangers, London Knights,
East Division: Belleville Bulls, Kingston Frontenacs, Oshawa Generals, Ottawa 67’s,
West Division: Plymouth Whalers, Saginaw Spirit, Sarnia Sting, Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds,
