Thunderbird success, in the moment
Looking ahead to next season, major change awaits the Soo Thunderbirds. But for now, the Thunderbirds are simply looking good.
The Thunderbirds are headed to the Dudley-Hewitt Cup, Central Canada Tournament for the second successive season after successfully repeating as champions of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League in convincing fashion.
As they now also look to repeat as Dudley-Hewitt Cup champions, the Thunderbirds are riding the crest of a dominant playoff run in the NOJHL in which they posted a 12-1 record in disposing of the Soo Eagles, Elliot Lake Wildcats and Kirkland Lake Gold Miners in an orderly manner.
Only Elliot Lake managed to win a game over the Thunderbirds during the three NOJHL playoff rounds, which ended with the Soo sweeping Kirkland Lake in four straight matches.
As this is the NOJHL’s turn as a league to play host to the Dudley-Hewitt Cup, it will have two representatives at the four-team event — the Thunderbirds and the Gold Miners.
As the pre-determined host, the Gold Miners along with the Thunderbirds and the champions from the Ontario Jr. Hockey League and the Superior International Jr. Hockey League will compete for this year’s Dudley-Hewitt Cup title at an early-May tournament.
It will be a final chapter of sorts for the 2015-2016 version of the Thunderbirds who will officially be under new ownership once the season ends.
The Tech 1921 Ltd. will assume official control of the Thunderbirds upon completion of the 2015-2016 campaign and the new ownership group has already installed the esteemed Denny Lambert as its director of hockey operations.
Lambert has already started working full-time for The Tech 1921 Ltd., which besides taking over the Thunderbirds, has future plans to operate a bantam-aged, midget-aged, academy-style hockey program from its headquarters in the downtown area of Wellington St. E. in Sault Ste. Marie.
With Lambert overseeing all hockey operations for The Tech, he will ultimately decide the future of the current Thunderbird staff which includes Kevin Cain and Jamie Henderson at the upper-management level, head coach Jordan Smith, assistant coaches Ryan Maunu and Jeremy Rebek and scouts Brad Boyer and Charly Murray.
To be sure, the 46-year old Lambert brings an impressive hockey background to his new position with The Tech/Thunderbirds.
Lambert skated in more than 500 National Hockey League games as a hard-toiling left winger with the Anaheim Mighty Ducks, Ottawa Senators, Nashville Predators and Atlanta Thrashers.
A native of Wawa who moved to Sault Ste. Marie as a youngster, Lambert toughed it out to play in 504 NHL games despite scoring only 27 career goals.
Never drafted into the Ontario Hockey League or the NHL, Lambert made a name for himself as a team-first, never-say-die, energy player who did not back down from anyone despite being modestly built at 5-foot-10, 195 pounds.
Following the end of his playing career in 2003, Lambert returned to Sault Ste. Marie as an assistant coach with the OHL Greyhounds, for whom he had played from 1988 until 1991.
Lambert spent five seasons as an assistant with the Greyhounds before being elevated to head coach in 2008. He served as head coach of the Greyhounds for the full 2008-2009 and 2009-2010 seasons but was fired by then-general manager Dave Torrie 40 games into the 2010-2011 campaign.
As head coach of the Greyhounds, Lambert posted a record of 69-93-14 and led the Soo into the OHL playoffs in 2009-2010.
His last coaching gig was with the Batchewana Attack of the erstwhile Canadian International Hockey League in 2014-2015, leading the team to the championship.
Looking ahead, the Thunderbirds are in good hands with Lambert as director of hockey operations and backed by The Tech.
And in the present — in the moment — the Thunderbirds are in good hands and looking good, based on their accomplishments of an NOJHL season just past.
PLAYOFF MVP
Veteran Thunderbirds defenceman Michael Caruso has been named most valuable player of the NOJHL playoffs.
A 1995 birth-year defender, Caruso showed his offensive prowess during the playoffs with 5 goals, 6 assists, 11 points in 13 games.
PHOTO: Michael Caruso accepts the NOJHL playoff MVP award from commissioner Robert Mazzuca.