1996-97 Thunder Bay Thunder Cats Statistics
Team Record: 43-23 (SO: 0-8) - 94 points
in the COHL's West Division
Lost in 2nd Round
Coach: Tom Warden (43-23, 8 OTL)
Location: Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada
Attendance: 81,030, Avg. 2,190 in 37 home dates
The Thunder Bay Thunder Cats of the Colonial Hockey League ended the 1996-97 season with a record of 43 wins and 23 losses, with a 0-8 showing in shootouts for 94 points in the COHL's West Division.
The Thunder Cats scored 333 goals and yielded 266. Brant Blackned netted 49 goals for Thunder Bay, while Barry McKinlay, Jason Firth and Forbes MacPherson each tallied 30 or more as well. Jason Firth contributed 83 assists. Bob Bell topped the squad with 22 wins, plus J.F. Rivard added 15 or more wins, too. J.F. Rivard recorded a 3.3 goals against average, leading goaltenders with enough qualifying appearances.
Tom Warden coached the team. The 1996-97 Thunder Bay Thunder Cats lost in the in 2nd Round of the playoffs.
Click on column headings to sort.
Scoring:
| Player | Pos | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | +/- | PPG | SHG | GWG | SOG | SG% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jason Firth | C | 56 | 37 | 83 | 120 | 22 | 53 | 6 | 7 | 5 | 172 | 21.5 |
| Forbes MacPherson | C | 72 | 42 | 61 | 103 | 68 | 21 | 7 | 12 | 4 | 203 | 20.7 |
| Brant Blackned | LW | 70 | 49 | 51 | 100 | 79 | 29 | 13 | 0 | 11 | 257 | 19.1 |
| Barry McKinlay | D | 65 | 32 | 58 | 90 | 82 | 50 | 9 | 9 | 6 | 201 | 15.9 |
| Normand Paquet | C | 74 | 19 | 42 | 61 | 55 | 9 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 173 | 11.0 |
| Mike Figliomeni | LW | 53 | 22 | 35 | 57 | 21 | 24 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 134 | 16.4 |
| Jason Mallon | RW | 50 | 17 | 33 | 50 | 52 | 19 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 162 | 10.5 |
| Neal Purdon | RW | 69 | 24 | 22 | 46 | 72 | 16 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 161 | 14.9 |
| Brad Toporowski | D | 71 | 6 | 32 | 38 | 117 | 26 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 113 | 5.3 |
| Mel Angelstad | L | 66 | 10 | 21 | 31 | 422 | 18 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 113 | 8.8 |
| David Andre | C | 39 | 14 | 10 | 24 | 46 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 74 | 18.9 |
| Jason Disher | D | 60 | 9 | 13 | 22 | 240 | 19 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 71 | 12.7 |
| David Paxton | D | 69 | 7 | 15 | 22 | 41 | 19 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 98 | 7.1 |
| Mike Koiranen | LW | 39 | 9 | 11 | 20 | 16 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 36 | 25.0 |
| Craig Mittleholt | LW | 14 | 5 | 11 | 16 | 4 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 51 | 9.8 |
| Robert DuBois | LW | 21 | 6 | 7 | 13 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 38 | 15.8 |
| Pat Hanley | D | 54 | 3 | 8 | 11 | 52 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 48 | 6.3 |
| Bruce Ramsay | LW | 9 | 6 | 4 | 10 | 71 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 16 | 37.5 |
| Wayne Strachan | RW | 8 | 4 | 6 | 10 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 36 | 11.1 |
| Ray Skinner | C | 30 | 2 | 6 | 8 | 61 | -4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 41 | 4.9 |
| Bench | 74 | 6 | 6 | 20 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| Kevin Holliday | D | 69 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 403 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 23 | 4.3 |
| Scott Reilly | D | 11 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 14.3 |
| Mark Bell | F | 56 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 118 | -6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 37 | 2.7 |
| Derek Landmesser | D | 17 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 11 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0.0 |
| Nicolas Cantin | L | 9 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 7.7 |
| Peter Helesic | RW | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0.0 |
| J.F. Rivard | R | 37 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Bob Bell | G | 41 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 28 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Totals | 1305 | 333 | 548 | 881 | 2123 | 333 | 67 | 36 | 37 | 2284 | 14.6 |
Goaltenders:
| Player | GP | Min | W | L | T/OL | ENG | SHO | GA | GAA | Shts | SVS | SV% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bob Bell | 41 | 2340 | 22 | 11 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 136 | 3.49 | 1306 | 1170 | .896 |
| J.F. Rivard | 37 | 2094 | 21 | 12 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 115 | 3.30 | 1182 | 1067 | .903 |
| Totals | 78 | 4434 | 43 | 23 | 8 | 7 | 0 | 251 | 3.40 | 2488 | 2237 | .899 |
Postseason - Scoring:
| Player | Pos | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | +/- | PPG | SHG | GWG | SOG | SG% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jason Firth | C | 11 | 7 | 14 | 21 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Forbes MacPherson | C | 11 | 1 | 12 | 13 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Brant Blackned | LW | 11 | 3 | 6 | 9 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Barry McKinlay | D | 11 | 6 | 10 | 16 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Normand Paquet | C | 11 | 2 | 6 | 8 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Mike Figliomeni | LW | 11 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Jason Mallon | RW | 11 | 5 | 5 | 10 | 24 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Neal Purdon | RW | 11 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Brad Toporowski | D | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 22 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Mel Angelstad | L | 7 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 21 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Jason Disher | D | 11 | 6 | 3 | 9 | 56 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| David Paxton | D | 11 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Mike Koiranen | LW | 7 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Craig Mittleholt | LW | 11 | 4 | 5 | 9 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Wayne Strachan | RW | 4 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Ray Skinner | C | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 23 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Bench | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Kevin Holliday | D | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 28 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Nicolas Cantin | L | 10 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| J.F. Rivard | R | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Bob Bell | G | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Totals | 195 | 43 | 76 | 119 | 284 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
