The saga of the Sudbury Northern Wolves took yet another turn Wednesday as the NOJHL Directors decided not to approve the local team's application to be granted a one year leave of absence. Rather, the NOJHL has given the Sudbury Minor Hockey Association (SMHA), which effectively owns the Northern Wolves, until Monday (August 16th) morning at 9:00 a.m. to either complete a sale of the team or agree to run the team for the upcoming season.

"Basically, the directors rejected their (SMHA) request" explained Art Yeo, commissioner of the NOJHL. "If there is no further development by the deadline, the league will revoke the Northern Wolves franchise." Yeo noted that he had contacted the NOHA office in North Bay to confirm their support of the junior league's course of action. "We are still hopeful that someone will come out of the woodwork over the course of the next few days" said Yeo.

SMHA President Mike Brunette, reached for comment late Wednesday night, indicated that although he had not yet received the written notice of the NOJHL decision, he had been in contact with Yeo over the course of the evening and had been made aware of the content of the letter. "It was pretty well what we expected - I understand their position" said Brunette, who is in the first few months of his term as head of the local minor hockey association.

In discussing the timing of the SMHA request for the leave of absence, Brunette explained the hurdles facing the newly-elected board. "People have to remember that the new Board of the SMHA was elected at the annual meeting held in May which is already after the May 1st deadline (to notify the league of a leave of absence)" said Brunette. "At that meeting, I knew that both the Northern Wolves situation as well as the SMHA's general financial situation were going to be big issues."

"I mean the reason I'm here in the first place is to improve our association for minor hockey" noted Brunette, who once again confirmed that the SMHA simply cannot afford the ongoing financial drain imposed by ownership of a junior franchise. "Our thought is we wanted to continue moving forward in order to allow us to try and sell the team - we really thought we would find a buyer" said Brunette. "We're still hoping that maybe with all of the news over the past couple of days someone steps forward."

Former Northern Wolves Director of Hockey Operations Mark Seidel has confirmed that his group of investors is no longer interested in assuming the financial responsibility for the team in the upcoming season. "I contacted Art before the conference call to let him know that we were not in a position to run the team this year" said Seidel, acknowledging that his group's offer to purchase a few weeks back may have left some directors believing that Seidel and company would be more than willing to step in the moment the franchise was revoked.

"The financial cost of starting this late was not one I could recommend to the investors in good conscience" said Seidel, who added that he would be more than happy to help out with any initiave that would keep the Northern Wolves operational for the 2004-05 season. As for the next step for the SMHA, Brunette is not optimistic that there will be any change before Monday. "We simply are not able to finance the team for another year" said Brunette. If status quo remains over the weekend, there is some uncertainty regarding one particular issue, that being the control of the existing players cards from the 2003-04 season.

Yeo maintains that the franchise rights being revoked would cause the players cards to be turned over to the NOJHL while Brunette said that "we (SMHA) can sell the cards even if the franchise is revoked." Having said that, both Brunette and Yeo continue to express their sincere wishes that this entire situation can be resolved as amicably as is possible under the circumstances.