“Everyone bought in” on the Current River Storm, which led to the second-year franchise setting records and winning it all in 2023/2024.

Head Coach Robbie Untinen added “the players exhibited strong work habits in games and practices, which pushed them to be the best that they could be.”

The club lost just three games all season long, and at one juncture reeled off nineteen consecutive victories between November 18, 2023, and March 16, 2024. Both trophies that the Storm won last season were clinched in the Fort William Gardens against the Thunder Bay Northern Hawks; it began with the Brian Dell trophy (regular season winners) on February 20, 2024, and concluded with the Joe Ward Memorial trophy as league champions on April 4, 2024.

The Storm went to the Central Canada Cup in Flin Flon, Manitoba and wrapped up the round robin in second place with a record of 2-1-1. They would eventually bow out of the five-team championship with an 6-0 loss to the Saskatoon Royals in the semi-final. 

The team will look a little different this season with the addition of Braeden Duchesne, formerly of the Kam River Fighting Walleye (SIJHL), and John Whitfield.

The Thunder Bay Bandits picked up Brandon McKinnon along with prospects Emerson Degiacomo, Graydon Pollock and Noah Bannon as part of the July transaction.

“Since we added Duchesne and Whitfield, spots are a little more limited this year. We have a full main camp so we will see who makes the team,” Untinen noted.

Duchesne had a pair of brief stints with the Thunder Bay Bandits, registering four points in a 10-6 win over the Thunder Bay Northern Hawks on January 4, 2024. He played three seasons with the Fighting Walleye, helping them win the 2023 Bill Salonen Cup.

Whitfield picked up 33 points in 26 regular season games last season with the Bandits to go along with eleven points in the semi-finals against Current River.

The Storm have also signed rookies Nolen Sloan, Aiden Kristjanson, Michael Arnone, Hudson Gerry, and Levi Lucas.

The 18-year-old Sloan was picked first overall in the 2024 Prospect Draft on May 16.

Untinen feels with a lot of the same guys coming back, it should be easier for the new arrivals to see what the expectations are of the organization going into year three.

“Obviously winning brings new challenges but we only worry about what we can control as a group,” Untinen mentioned. “We are excited to get back on the ice in the coming weeks and will put our best foot forward to try and defend our title.”

The Current River Storm play their home games on the traditional territory of the Fort William First Nation, signatory to the Robinson Superior Treaty of 1850.

The Lakehead Junior Hockey League proudly acknowledges and celebrates the history, heritage, resilience, and diversity of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis across Canada. We also continue to learn and educate ourselves in the spirit of reconciliation.

Storm photo courtesy of Gary Moskalyk