Blanchard talks Seidel, Skyhawks, GMJHL and more

The North Bay Skyhawks are ready to take the ice once again this weekend when they start their Mini Training Camp. Before the camp begins, General Manager Guy Blanchard took the time to answer a few questions about changes in the league heading into the season. First on the agenda was the fact that after six months without having a commissioner, the NOJHL appointed Mark Seidel to the position. Seidel brings a lot of experience to the position and Blanchard is very happy to see him on board.

“He understands our needs as a league,” said Blanchard in reference to Seidel.

“He’s a good marketer and he’ll be a definite benefit to the league. We look forward to having him on board.”

One area of concern heading into this season is the fact that the league is now down to six teams after the loss of the Soo Indians. With the defending league champions out for the season, it would be easy to start questioning how strong the leagues’ foundation is. However Blanchard is not too concerned, and feels that the league will do just fine.

“If we had more time we could have had seven teams this year,” said Blanchard regarding the new ownership team with the Indians.

“They had a new owner in place but he wasn’t quite ready to start. We’ll be back up to seven next year and maybe eight with Ville Marie. They wanted to wait a year to start and it was for the best instead of putting a team in place when they are not ready. We also have another team from the U.S. who wants to get in, so we may even be up to nine teams.”

Blanchard however would not tip his hat as to where that team would be from.

There were also some concerns which affect the Skyhawks directly. Most notably would be the GMJHL expanding once again and having two teams located within the region in both Temiscaming and Sturgeon Falls. When asked whether or not the league and its expansion will affect the Skyhawks, Blanchard did not hold back his feelings.

“Player wise it does not affect us at all,” said Blanchard in regards to the possibility of losing players to the league.

“It may affect us fan wise, take some fans away from the game, but yeah I’m not worried about the players. If they want to pay $3000.00 and not be insured to play junior hockey then that’s fine. They want to play junior hockey and there are no OHL scouts then we are not worried, we are ok with that. And there will hardly be any NCAA scouts that are going to make the trip this far up north to watch the games, so like I said I don’t really think it’s going to affect us player wise.”

Blanchard also took time to comment on the effort the Skyhawks are making to bring in high profile players. Last season there had been concern that the team did not make the necessary efforts to bring in big guns like they did in the past and thus were not making an effort to win. Blanchard however says that the team has changed their policies over the last few years, and it is about having players who want to play for the team.

“We’re not going to bring in big named players who are asking for big dollars. We have changed our policies since the Dudley Hewitt Cup and that is not how we are going to operate. We want players who want to play for the Skyhawks and not people that just want the money. We have already made two signings and we have two more players that are very close right now,” said Blanchard.

On the topic of signings, Blanchard is looking forward to seeing some of the new faces, and returning faces this weekend. There are a few players whom Blanchard believes are poised for a big season after playing strong last year, and some new faces that are going to get the fans excited.

“We’re looking at Brad Norkum to have a big year,” said Blanchard in regards to his returning defenceman.

“Corey Park is a new signing who will be a big fan favorite; he’s a Todd Bertuzzi like player. He has offence, grit, and can handle himself when things get rough. We also have a couple of good American players from out west who are just about ready to sign. AJ Shiverdecker had a good year and will come in and start right off the bat. Ian Wilson is going to be the backbone of our hockey team. We feel if we can start with 8-9 good forwards who can score between 12-20 goals, 4 strong defensemen, plus a strong goalie we will compete with the rest of the league.”

Blanchard also had a message for the fans who are worried about the quality of play with the league down to six teams.

“Fans don’t have to worry about just having six teams. It’s going to be a very competitive league. Every game was always a challenge, very little blowouts. One thing about our league is that every team is well coached and that makes for some very good and very competitive hockey.”