Men's exhibition schedule finalized

The St. Thomas' men's hockey team kick off the 2011-2012 season at home versus the UPEI Panthers on Wednesday September 21st at 7 PM. This will be Troy Ryan's first game behind the STU bench. In total the Tommies will play 6 pre-season exhibition games and 2 after Christmas before the second half begins.

Lady Tommies add two more players. Exhibition schedule unveiled.

Coach Peter Murphy has added two more pieces to the 2011-12 St. Thomas Tommies women's hockey team.

Manny Hebel - Courtesy WWHL

Manuela (Manny) Hebel will be attending St. Thomas this fall after playing in the Western Women's Hockey League last year for the Edmonton Chimos. She is originally from Mannheim, Germany and wanted to improve her hockey skills in Canada. Manny is a speedy forward who will bring a little extra jump to the offensive attack. WWHL Link

Tombits

Tommies regular season schedules -   Our long wait for hockey to return is coming fast and we'll soon be able to watch our Tommies back in action.  The AUS regular season begins for the Lady Tommies on Saturday, October 15th at home against the Mount Allison Mounties.  Full AUS Women's Hockey Schedule

The men begin on the road at Dalhousie on Friday, October 14th.  Full AUS Men's Hockey Schedule. We tweeted both links on June 30th.  If you want to follow us on Twitter please click on the link to your left or @stutommies when you're signed on.

I have inquired about the men's exhibition schedule but have not heard back to date but I do have a few dates to share.

Saturday, September 24th @ Acadia 4 PM.
Thursday, September 29th vs. St-FX 7 PM (LBR?)
Saturday, October 1st vs. UQTR 4 PM (LBR?)
Saturday, October 8th @ U de M 7 PM (Game to be played in Grand Falls)

We are not playing the Squirrels or Huskies in exhibition play this fall and no word on UPEI but a good bet would be Dalhousie on the 23rd in Halifax, not official by any means, just a shot in the dark.  There doesn't appear to be a NCAA road trip scheduled for this year.  (See exhibition schedule above)

STU adds OHL D-man Chris Van Laren

Courtesy Guelph Mercury

Troy Ryan knew he would have to upgrade his St. Thomas defense this year and he is off to a good start adding Chris Van Laren most recently of the OHL Guelph Storm. With the graduation of Keith Wynn, David Crossman, Scott Judson and Erick Tremblay you can expect that this will not be the last d-man added this year.

Van Laren "has got a bit of an edge to him," Ryan told the Daily Gleaner, "He has the abilities to play against top players, very difficult to play against." This is good news for the Tommies moving forward especially as this is the first two OHL recruits (see Sanza post below) to STU in 4 years.

Guelphstorm.com - "Trade a surprise but solid play is not"
thespec.com - "Trade deadline deal key to Guelph Storm revival"
The Daily Gleaner - "Tommies bring in two OHL recruits"

Tommies add Knights captain Stephen Sanza

Courtesy London Knights

Troy Ryan has landed his first recruit and it looks like a dandy.  STU has added London Knights' captain and right winger Stephen Sanza to the fold for 2011-2012.  This is the fourth player added to the Tommies roster for next season.  Sebastien Bernier, Chris Morehouse, and Felix-Antoine Poulin were announced before Ryan was hired as coach.

Sanza was named captain of the Knights late in the 2010-11 OHL season after Michael D'Orazio - then captain for London - was traded to Mississauga.  Coach Dale Hunter commented "Stevie’s definitely our leader. He’s good with the young kids and he’ll do a good job wearing the ‘C’ for us.  He blocks shots, he penalty kills. He’s got 24 goals and plays against the other team’s best line. He does all the things a leader does.” Hunter had given Sanza one the team's assistant jobs at the start of the season. 

With 44 points this past year in the OHL, Sanza has shown improvement every time he takes a jump to a higher level.    Look for him to be a major contributor to Tommies success in the near future.


*NEW* Shannon Wise Interview with Stephen Sanza CJBK London.

Daily Gleaner - "Tommies bring in two OHL recruits"
London Free Press - "'C' gives Sanza license to talk even more"

London Knights - "Knights name Sanza team captain"

London Free Press - "Joining Knight's Sanza's dream"

Grant*Harvey Centre UPDATE

In lieu of news coming from our hockey programs over the past little bit an update is in order for the Tommies new home. Contrary to popular reports of a March 2012 move-in date it looks as if the Grant*Harvey Centre will be open for business in June of 2012.

Grant*Harvey Center, July 2011.  Olympic ice surface.

The new move-in date for St. Thomas should work quite well for the teams, as they will have the summer to move equipment and supplies to the new arena. Further to this it should also allow St. Thomas to run their summer hockey schools from the new location and give potential recruits a good look at it as well.  stutommies.com April 25th, 2011 POST

Grant*Harvey Center.  Olympic ice surface and visitor dressing rooms.

Rear view of Grant*Harvey Centre, early July 2011.

On a recruiting note we hope to have some names of new players coming to St. Thomas' men's team this month so hold on Tommie fans.

On the women's side the only "new" addition not already mentioned is actually a former Tommie who took last year off. Jillian Coughlin has been confirmed by Coach Murphy as returning to the line-up for 2011-12. In an injury plagued 2009-10 season Jillian scored 3 goals and 3 assists for 6 points in 12 games. In her rookie season for STU she had 17 points including 12 goals and 5 assists in 23 games. Welcome back Jillian.