The Traverse City Wolves have taken the next step in their promise of making Game Days more exciting for their fans. The TC Wolves announced today the start of a “Kid’s Club” featuring the new mascot for the Wolves “Blitz”, a full body Grey Wolf mascot wearing the Wolves Maroon jersey.

“We are excited to be able to bring our fans not only a more exciting Game Day with the addition of Blitz, but we are elated at the start of our Kids Club Program. Our goal from the outset was to get involved with our communities youth, and I think we just took a major step today”. Said team owner Daniel Skibbe.

The Kids Club will be available for all children up to the age of 12. Each Kids Club member will receive a welcome Letter from Blitz and many discounts/certificates to local businesses in Traverse City. Included with each welcome letter each member will receive 6 (set of 16) autographed Football cards of your TC Wolves.

Registration for the Kids Club is free and available at www.tcwolves.com/site/kidsclub beginning January 10th.

January 12th will be the first formal workout for 2012 and will be open to anyone interested in trying out for the Traverse City Wolves. The tryout will start on January 12th and will finalize in early may. The Wolves will go outside for a 4 month try out to get in shape and show your dedication and determination. Stay tuned for more details.

If the Wolves are to make it back to the playoffs in 2012 they will have to get back to the basics of tough hard work and discipline that was a staple the first 2 seasons. The Wolves failed to make the playoffs for the first time in their existence in 2011, and that has not set well with Head Coach Micham or team Owner Daniel Skibbe.

“Big things are coming,” Skibbe said last week via social media, and the first one was delivered Saturday Night when Skibbe announced the signing of MMA Champion Christios Piliafas in front of a capacity crowd during last week’s “Caged Aggression 30” at Ground Zero Night Club. The news brought the crowd to its feet with a chant of “Chris-Tos”( a fan favorite) .

“Piliafas made the team in 2009 at our original combine held in Kalkaska, he was an All-State Defensive and Offensive player in High School at Boystown in Nebraska. But at that time he decided to focus on pursuing a fighting career (ranked #8) in the MMA field, while also starting his own MMA training facility and hosting events for his own MMA business (Great Lakes MMA).  ”Which he has done quite well in” said Skibbe. “The discipline that is needed in his fighting career will carry over to not only in his practice habits but also carry over to his teammates, which we are hoping will make us a better team.”

“Mr. Skibbe and I sat down, he had a few concerns with my career, we agreed on them and I am playing next season. It is an opportunity that I actually thought had passed me by when I decided not to play in 2009. I am very appreciative for this opportunity and I will not let our fans or this team down. It is time for this team to take that next step and bring home a Championship”, said Piliafas.

TRAVERSE CITY, Michigan

They say that failure drives an individual, wonder what it does to a pack of Wolves. The Wolves failed to make the playoffs for the first time in their existence, and finished the 2011 season with a 5-5 record. The Wolves controlled their own destiny coming down the stretch, but the schedule would not be kind to the Wolves as they would have to play the top two teams(Cougars and Wolverines) in that stretch.

“The season did not end the way we all would have liked it to end. The bar had been raised really high in our first two seasons with us advancing far into the playoffs, so for us not to be still playing is a wakeup call for all of us that success doesn’t come easy”, said Head Coach Rick Micham.

One of the first things Team Owner Daniel Skibbe did was ensure that the coaching staff will be returning. This will be the first season that the Wolves will be returning the coaching staff from the previous year (Skibbe in the first season, Haney in 2010). “My first priority this off season was making sure that the coaching staff returned, I felt that we needed continuity with the coaching staff, something that we have not had in the past 2 off seasons”, said team owner Skibbe.  “I have known Rick (Head Coach Micham) for 6 years, and have coached with him for 4 years(3 years in Elk Rapids and 1 year as Skibbe’s Defensive coordinator in ’09), and we both feel that we made significant strides in the second half of the season, and want to continue to build on that for the future. We both feel that we can return the Wolves to the playoffs next season.” Read the rest of this entry »

TRAVERSE CITY, Michigan

If the Traverse City Wolves are to make the playoffs for a third year in a row, they will have to beat the best of the GMFL to get there. The Wolves have already played the #5 ranked Mercenaries two weeks ago( a 25-6 Wolves Victory), the #1 Lakeshore Cougars( a 54-26 Loss Last Week), and now will welcome the #3 Metro Detroit Wolverines(7-0) to Thirlby Field Saturday Evening. The Wolverines come into this game looking to lock up the Motor City Division title, while the Wolves need to win two of their last three games to secure a playoff spot.

The Wolverines come into this game having not lost to a team in Michigan in the past 2 seasons. Last week the Wolverines beat the Detroit Seminoles (EMCL) 14-7 in a classic matchup. “Last week was a tough loss, but we will learn from it and be ready for this week’s game. We have a very talented team in the Wolverines coming up here this weekend and we will be ready for them”, Said Coach Micham.

The Wolves have two of their final three games at home, his week against the Wolverines and August 13th against the Grand Rapids Thunder (Wolves won prior meeting 18-17). “We really need our fans to come out to these last two home games and give us the 12th man. When we have a big crowd and they are loud, it makes it very tough on the other team. We will need that these next two games as we try to get a playoff berth”, said Special teams Coach Dave Harrington.

TRAVERSE CITY, Michigan
​The Traverse City Wolves will be well represented at the 2011 GMFL All-Star Game this season. The TC Wolves have 10 players that were voted in to the All-Star this season. Wolves Starting the All-Star Game are:
1. WR Patrick Fancy
2. SS Mike Stagg
3. PR/KR Tim Ohlert
4. K/P Pablo Bocardo
5. C Jake Patt
6. OL/DL Josh Swartz
The Alternates that were voted in are:
1. OL Caleb Brown
2. Alvin Sitkiewicz
3. Aaron Sitkiewicz
4. Ray Gidley
This will be the second All-Star appearance for Brown, Ohlert, and Bocardo. The rest of the Wolves this will be their first All-Star Game. The All-Star Game will be held on Sunday September 18th in Aurora, Illinois.

TRAVERSE CITY, Michigan

The Traverse City Wolves didn’t start the season the way that has been the norm for the Wolves, losing two of the first three with two of those losses coming at home including an embarrassing loss to the West Michigan Tigers 21-3 at home on June 18th (A game that would see the Wolves lose All-Star Linebacker for the season). “We were embarrassed by our performance in those first three games; we had injuries to our top two quarterbacks, and had to rely on our kicker (Bocardo) to play QB until we could get healthy. However coaching is a no excuse job and you are ultimately judged on your win-Loss record, and we were just not getting the job done”, said Coach Micham.
What a difference a few weeks means, with the Wolves winning three in a row, including last week’s 25-6 victory over the Mercenaries. The Wolves have moved into the top 10 of the power rankings and are prepared to make more noise in the next two weeks as they play the Cougars this weekend, and host the #1 ranked Wolverines on July 30th at Thirlby Field. With the additions that the Wolves made over that period seem to have solidified the team. “Bringing in Pennington (INT in last week’s game) has solidified the secondary which allowed us to have Maurer move into QB(10-10-187 yds and a TD in last week’s victory). Jeff Fancy, Kody Kiogima, Scott Long, and of course Trevor Hunt have all been great pickups for us as we get ready for the final four weeks and a playoff push”, stated Micham.
The Wolves seem to be headed to another postseason berth; the Wolves have made the playoffs every year of their existence. With two tough games on the horizon the Wolves will find out if they are ready to take the next step and bring home a championship to Traverse City. This week’s game can be heard on ESPN Radio (1310 AM). Tickets for next week’s big showdown can be purchased by calling 231-947-1937 or by visiting www.tcwolves.com.

Ray Gidley started the party. Shane Pennington and Michael Stagg joined in while Tim Ohlert finished it. All four starting defensive backs for the Traverse City Wolves came up with an interception Saturday as the Wolves picked up a 25-6 win over the Southeast Michigan Mercenaries at Thirlby Field.

Article from the Record Eagle

6-foot-4 Florida native bolsters TC position depth

By MIKE ECKERT
meckert@record-eagle.com

Read the rest of the article on the Record-Eagle web site.