London (CP) - Owner of the London Werewolves Mark Wendling has stated emphatically that the Werewolves will make the playoffs this season after three years of not having a shot at the Cup. "Three years in a row we have not made the playoffs, and enough is enough, this year I can guarantee to our fans we will make the playoffs no questions." The past two seasons although the Werewolves were knocked out from contention, in fact last season on the last day they have won two consecutive Dixie Cups. "Trophies are nice, but not when they are made of paper" stated Wendling.
"I actually am in full belief that with moves we have made this summer we have a legitimate shot at winning our division. Hopefully we will also win our first playoff series since 2010. It has been a long time and although our fans are patient, they should be excited because this is an exciting team." It appears the youth has caught up and we will finally see Jack Eichel, rumour is that first round pick Matthew Tkachuk will be given a major tryout during the preseason to see if he is ready and could be the first player to make the big club right after the draft in a number of years.
Moves made this summer include the additions of winger Patrick Hornqvist and defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk from Quebec, picked up goaltender Jonathon Quick off waivers. The biggest move was how the Werewolves splashed back into the unrestricted free agent market signing what many believe to be the two best defensemen available in Mark Giordano and Ryan Suter.
In an interview with Wendling he stated, "It was evident we have a young team and we needed to add experience. I believe you can have young forwards but if you go that way you need some veteran defensive presence to help out the kids. Aaron Ekblad is 21 years old, he plays as if he has a ton more experience, but face it he is still a young kid. Mark and Ryan will help to teach him and a number of young guys we have in the system, we have both of them for 3 years and we believe by then our other guys will be ready to go, but we needed a bridge. This could be the final contract for both players in their career, we met with them explained what we wanted from them, and they both like what we are doing and believe that they have a shot to win the cup in London over the next 3 years. We knew the window was starting to open again for us, so this time we decided to speed it up a bit. I received an email from another owner after UFA offers were tendered that London was back, my comment you better believe it."
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