Welcome back, Billy Mac
Thursday, April 4, 2013 - 07:00
Thunderwolves head coach Bill McDonald takes a question Wednesday at Lakehead University.
By Matt Vis
At his introductory media conference as the newest head coach of the Lakehead Thunderwolves’ men’s hockey team, Bill McDonald emphasized two characteristics that seemed to be in short supply from last year’s team: accountability and responsibility.
Lakehead formally introduced McDonald at the Lakehead University Hangar on Wednesday.
McDonald, a Thunder Bay native, becomes the fourth full-time head coach in the program’s history, relieving interim coach Mike Busniuk, who carried the reins for the team after the dismissal of Joel Scherban last October.
“It’s an exciting day and a start of a new era for Thunderwolves hockey,” said Lakehead athletic director Tom Warden. “We’re really excited about the new era, and excited to have Bill McDonald back in Thunder Bay.”
McDonald, 60, is now tasked with changing the culture of a team that was mired in dysfunction last season. Last year’s squad was swept out of the first round of the playoffs after finishing third in the OUA West Division with a 17-9-2 record.
After a pair of embarrassing home losses early in the season, Scherban was dismissed while rumours swirled around the program about a players’ revolt. Throughout the remainder of the campaign the team was prone to loss of discipline on the ice that hindered Lakehead’s ability to win games, behaviour that it is said will not be tolerated in this new regime.
“I think everything has to do with accountability in hockey, and responsibility. If you don’t have that, you’re behind the eight-ball right away,” said McDonald, a local coaching fixture in the early 1990’s with the professional Thunder Bay Thunder Hawks and Senators.
“The guys that want to be accountable and responsible and play as a team on the ice will be here, and I guess it’s my job to find the guys that maybe don’t want to be here. It’s sort of a clean slate. We’ve got to build a team, be a team, and be together.”
On hand for the announcement were a few returning players from last year’s Thunderwolves team. They say that they are pleased with their first impressions of their newest coach, and are ready to turn the page.
“If we don’t (adapt now) we better find it over the next few months because from what I heard, Bill demands the best from his players,” said veteran defenceman Mike Quesnele, who completed his third season with the team. “That’s what I think this organization wants; a team that’s going to go out there and give its best every night.
Added forward Luke Judson, “We’re trying not to focus on last year as much. Everyone knows the problems we had, and definitely much publicized, but we’re looking forward and that’s it.”
McDonald arrives to the program with an accomplished resume. He spent the past season as a senior advisor of hockey operations with the Central Hockey League’s Allen Americans, but as a head coach captured three Colonial Hockey League championships in four seasons from 1991-1995 with the Thunder Hawks and Senators, and won a Central League title with the Fort Worth Fire in 1997.
It is this history of success that made him an attractive candidate to Warden and the rest of the Thunderwolves board of directors, as they looked to rejuvenate a team that has failed to advance past the second round of the playoffs since hosting the national championships in 2010.
McDonald says that the first step of building the program back to that of a perennial championship contender begins with his entire roster buying into the systems and being on the same page, and that at this early stage he is unsure of the nature of any needed personnel changes.
“I know what the calibre (of university hockey) is all about, but as far as if this team’s good enough to win, I don’t know,” he admitted. “We’ll have to evaluate the talent. I’m already into the bios on the (returning players). I think we’re close. With that being said, I’m not saying we don’t have to add a guy or two or get rid of a guy. All I’m saying is a good team that works hard and plays systems, their chances go way up of winning and you have to be together.”
When asked to summarize his coaching style and features of his teams, McDonald says he wants his team to work together, work hard and embrace physicality, but also to recognize boundaries and not cross them.
“As far as my coaching style, I want to have a hard working team that believes in the system we put forth,” he described. “Be aggressive, obviously the game has changed, but you can still skate and you can still finish hits. Just responsible and be accountable, not only to yourself, but to the guy beside you.”
Quesnele seemed to appreciate the new orders, and acknowledged that following it will likely improve the hockey club.
“I heard he likes a hard, disciplined game,” Quesnele said. “If you’re going to play physical you have to be disciplined, so if he’s going to hold guys accountable that’s what we need, and probably the best thing for this team.”
McDonald also said that he is currently undecided on who will be joining his coaching staff as assistants, but that a decision will be made in the near future.
