Dear Golden Hawk hockey alumni and friends,

Hopefully, everyone is doing great and has enjoyed their summer.

There are many great things about the summer months, but for me being able to catch up with family and friends is always a highlight. I hope you were all able to do the same.

Just a few updates for you all:


Laurier Hawkey Alumni Golf Classic

For starters, a huge thanks to Joe and Pam McCrea for putting on such a great day and event for everyone. Days like these bring so much fun to a lot of people. We all thank you both for making it happen.

I would also like to thank Laurier students Megan Eby and Kiran Bola for taking the time out of their day to help out with sign-in, prize draws, and so much more.  

In addition, we would like to thank Laurier Hockey Alumni Frank Ivankovic for his donation of the Leaf's game tickets in the Molson box. 

Congratulations to the team of James Marsden, Dan Mohle, Brent Vandenburg, and Brook Albion for their big win. Winners this year received a vintage Laurier hockey jersey.
 

For me, it was great to finally meet so many of you out on the course and afterwards during dinner. It was great to finally put some names to faces, hear some great stories, and have some fun ideas going forward.

Seeing so many smiles and hearing so many laughs all over the golf course made it obvious to me how special this day is for everyone and that there is an amazing family culture here that we will strive to grow and continue. 

Thank you to everyone who attended and/or contributed.

Pictures from the day can be viewed online.

2023-24 Roster Update

It's been quite a busy and successful recruiting season so far with such a large incoming class. To date, we have 11 commits with a couple of spots remaining to fill and are in talks with several impact student-athletes to complete the roster. 

In some cases, we are up against potential pro offers they are seeking, so we are in tough but still in the hunt. 

On defence, we will have one of the youngest groups in the league this coming season having just graduated five of our starting six and as many as six new defencemen being in their first year. I feel, at this point, we have added some great young talent that will make us better, with lots of work still to be done. 

Read the detailed release on our recruiting class.
 

Contract signings

Recent Golden Hawks graduates Grayden Gottschalk and Jake Payette will be making the jump to professional hockey, as they've each signed with IHC Leuven of the BeNe League for the 2023-2024 season. 

The BeNe League is an eight-team league with teams in Belgium and the Netherlands and is the highest-level league in both countries. Read more
 

Colin Campbell, this past season's team rookie of the year, has also signed a pro deal with the EHF Passau Black Hawks of the Oberliga, the third-tier league in Germany. Read more

2023-24 Season Schedule

The regular season schedule is now final and available on our website.

We open our season at Waterloo on Thursday, October 5 and host Western for our home opener on Saturday, October 7. Season tickets are on sale now. 

Work is now underway behind the scenes to set up some alumni theme game nights. We hope to have some announcements regarding those games in the next few weeks.

We're back to a pre-Covid type schedule with 28 games and crossover play resuming against teams from the OUA East.

Wayne Gowing Coach Legacy Fund update

What an amazing initiative Wayne and WLU have put together. We are hugely grateful. Big thanks to Dave Bogart for his efforts & initiative in starting this fund.  

Being able to have a highly-qualified full-time assistant coach will increase the success of our program immensely, as many teams throughout the OUA have already gone in this direction.

I have worked in both situations and there is no doubt, student-athlete and team development improve quickly with another full-time coach on the staff. The other huge factor this helps with is having another coach with the time to commit to the scouting and recruiting process. 

It's early stages, but this initiative will no doubt have a huge positive impact on our program soon. Visit the Legacy page online for more information or to donate.

That's about it for now. I hope you all have a great summer. Please feel free to reach out anytime.

Regards,

Kevin Forrest.

Manager of Laurier men's hockey operations and head coach

kforrest@wlu.ca