The Lakehead Thunderwolves men's ice hockey team (formerly the Lakehead Nor'Westers) is an

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

program representing the

Lakehead Thunderwolves The Lakehead Thunderwolves are the U Sports varsity athletic teams that represent Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada. Overview The Lakehead Thunderwolves are perennial powers in the OUA and U Sports in Nordic Skiing and wrest ...

athletic department of

Lakehead University Lakehead University is a public research university with campuses in Thunder Bay and Orillia, Ontario, Canada. Lakehead University, shortened to 'Lakehead U', is non-denominational and provincially supported. It has undergraduate programs, gradua ...

. The team has been continually active since returning to action in 2002, and is currently a member of the

Ontario University Athletics Ontario University Athletics (OUA; ) is a regional membership association for Canadian universities which assists in co-ordinating competition between their university level athletic programs and providing contact information, schedules, results, ...

conference under the authority of

U Sports U Sports (stylized as U SPORTS) is the national sport governing body for universities in Canada, comprising the majority of degree-granting universities in the country and four regional conferences: Ontario University Athletics (OUA), Résea ...

. The Thunderwolves play at the

Fort William Gardens The Fort William Gardens is a multi-purpose arena, in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada. It opened in 1951. History The Gardens opened on March 6, 1951. The Fort William Canadians defeated the Westfort Hurricanes, Fort William Hurricanes by a 4–2 ...

Thunder Bay Thunder Bay is a city in and the seat of Thunder Bay District, Ontario, Canada. It is the most populous municipality in Northwestern Ontario and the second most populous (after Greater Sudbury) municipality in Northern Ontario. Its population i ...

, Ontario.

History

Lakehead University was formed by the merger of Lakehead Technical Institute and Lakehead College of Arts, Science, and Technology in 1965. That year, the college began its ice hockey team as a founding member of the International Collegiate Hockey Association (ICHA), an

National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) established in 1940, is a college athletics association for higher education, colleges and universities in North America. Most colleges and universities in the NAIA offer athletic schola ...

(NAIA) conference composed mostly of American schools. The Nor'Westers shared a league championship in 1967. Lakehead reached the NAIA championship tournament in

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses (Solar eclipse of February 25, 1971, February 25, Solar eclipse of July 22, 1971, July 22 and Solar eclipse of August 20, 1971, August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 1971 lunar eclip ...

1973 Events January * January 1 – The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark 1973 enlargement of the European Communities, enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 14 - The 16-0 19 ...

and

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 – Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

, finishing as runners-up twice. In 1972, the Western Canadian Intercollegiate Athletic Association (WCIAA) split into two divisions, Canada West and the Great Plains Athletic Association (GPAA). The primary reason that Lakehead had joined an American conference was the cost of travel. With the formation of the GPAA, the financial burdens were greatly reduced, giving the Nor'Westers the opportunity to play in their first native league. The team continued with the ICHA and Lakehead jointly played in both until 1977. During this time the Nor'Westers had the unique distinction of appearing in both an American and Canadian national tournament (in 1973), finishing as runners-up in the NAIA field and fifth in the University Cup. In the early 1980s, Lakehead joined the Thunder Bay Hockey League for two seasons. Lakehead finished near the bottom of the GPAC standings each year after 1978. The next season, Lakehead went winless in 26 games. After the worst season in program history, and with costs mounting, the school suspended the program. Sixteen years passed before Lakehead returned to the ice. In the interim, the school had joined

and changed its moniker to 'Thunderwolves'. After two season, the team received a bid to the University Cup. In the succeeding 10 years, Thunderwolves only produced winning seasons and finished as the national runners-up in

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

. However, since 2014, the program has declined and has only one winning record (as of 2024).

Season-by-season results

American Collegiate

''Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, OTL = Overtime losses, SOL = Shootout losses, Pts = Points''

Canadian collegiate

''Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, OTL = Overtime losses, SOL = Shootout losses, Pts = Points'' Note: Totals include senior collegiate play only.

References

External links

* {{U Sports men's ice hockey Ice hockey teams in Ontario U Sports men's ice hockey teams Ice hockey clubs established in 1966 1966 establishments in Ontario