The Kal Tire Sudbury Junior Wolves are ready to sink their
teeth into the new year and they have some additional bite to
help them.
The club recently acquired rugged defenceman Kyle Hope from the
North Bay Skyhawks in late December for future
considerations.
Hope is a Hanmer native and another player with extensive OHL
and NOJHL experience.
The 19-year-old defender played 29 games last season for the
Sudbury Wolves, picking up four goals, six points and 36
penalty minutes. Hope also had a solid +5 rating and all four
of his goals were power play markers.
Hope also played four games for the Skyhawks in 2005-06,
registering two goals.
The six-foot-one, 180-pound defenceman played 37 games for the
Junior Wolves (when they were known as the Northern Wolves) in
2004-05, scoring 10 goals and 28 points in 37 games.
Hope is renowned for his blistering slap shot and physical
edge.
"We have been trying to pry Kyle from the North Bay roster ever
since the OHL Wolves acquired his rights from the Barrie Colts
in 2005," said Blaine Smith, Wolves' vice-president in a news
release. "Kyle will now have the ability to be a leader on the
Jr. Wolves blueline and be available to the big club when we
need him. It is an ideal situation for Kyle to develop his
skills and be in a position to advance to the next level when
his junior career ends."
The addition of Hope has the Junior Wolves brass beaming with
pride and raises expectations.
"Kyle will definitely add a lot of experience and leadership to
our blueline," said Junior Wolves GM Mike Rowlandson. "Kyle is
one of the most feared defencemen in the NOJHL due to his size
and point-shot. The team is certainly shaping up to be one of
the best junior teams that Sudbury has ever seen."
Hope has been practising with the club and will see his first
action tonight when Sudbury hosts the Blind River Beavers. Game
time at the McClelland Arena in Copper Cliff is 7:30 pm.
Sudbury sits in first place in the NOJHL standings with a
record of 17-7-0-3, good for 37 points. The Beavers are more
than just treading water in the NOJHL as well with an
impressive 16-11-0-3 record, good for 35 points and fourth
overall.
Both teams enjoy scoring as Blind River has 127 goals for (most in the NOJHL) and Sudbury has 117 goals for (second most).
Sudbury struggled to end off 2006 by dropping two straight
games to the Soo Indians.
Overall, Sudbury is 2-3 in their last five games.
The Beavers have been rolling along as they have won their last
three games and have been scoring plenty with 19 goals for in
those three wins.
