Your Favorite Number 33

April 07, 2021

Wolves fans of all eras will love the Your Favorite Number 33 episode presented by Jewel-Osco. If you like postseason Most Valuable Players from the old-school days and goalies who made a big impact on the Wolves record book more recently, then this is the place to be.

Over the course of the organization’s first 26 years, most Wolves jersey numbers have been shared by several great players. To celebrate their brilliance, we are creating highlight reels of Wolves who wore the same jersey number and asking you to vote for your favorite.

This week’s clips feature four Wolves who made a difference while wearing No. 33: Alexander Semak, Michael Garnett, Matt Climie and Max Lagace.

Looking for a proven scorer to put them over the top, the Wolves signed Semak prior to the start of the 1997-98 season. The 31-year-old Semak had spent most of the last seven seasons in the NHL — piling up 83 goals and 91 assists in 289 regular-season appearances for the New Jersey Devils, Tampa Bay Lightning, New York Islanders and Vancouver Canucks. Semak was productive during the regular season — notching 26 goals and 35 assists in 67 games — but the Ufa, Russia, native took things to a new level once the Turner Cup Playoffs began. Semak led the Wolves in postseason scoring with 27 points (10G, 17A), which featured two third-period goals in Game 7 of the Turner Cup Finals against the Detroit Vipers.

Garnett, the Atlanta Thrashers’ third-round pick in the 2001 NHL Draft, split two seasons between the Wolves and the ECHL’s Gwinnett Gladiators before becoming a crucial part of the Wolves’ goaltending core from 2004 to 2007. The Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, native delivered a 56-35-10 record with 4 shutouts and a 3.05 goals-against average during his tenure. He ranks fifth on the Wolves’ all-time lists for games played (116) and minutes (6,357) and sixth in wins (56) and saves (2,848).

After losing to Climie and the Texas Stars during a grueling seven-game series in the 2010 West Division Finals, the Wolves decided it was better to have the high-spirited Leduc, Alberta, native on their side. Climie was signed prior to the 2011-12 season and spent four years helping the Wolves earn two division crowns. Climie climbed all the way to second place in virtually every goaltending category with 70 wins, 9 shutouts, 3,753 saves, 5 assists, 145 games played and 8,342 minutes.

Lagace joined the Wolves prior to the 2017-18 season and enjoyed two solid years (30-15-8 record, 2.60 GAA, .910 save percentage) that were highlighted by two unbelievable postseason accomplishments. On April 26, 2018, Lagace stacked up a franchise-record 72 saves as the Wolves played the longest game in franchise history. Chicago and Rockford played 117 minutes and 22 seconds — nearly six full periods — before the IceHogs scored a power-play goal to claim a 4-3 win.

Then, on May 25, 2019, Lagace became the first Wolves goalie to score a goal as well as the first goalie in AHL postseason history to score. The goal credited to him at 10:49 of the third period helped the Wolves rally for a 5-2 win in Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals against the San Diego Gulls.

To vote for your favorite Wolves player who wore No. 33, visit one or more of the team’s social media accounts (Facebook, Twitter and Instagram) and make your opinion known!

If you missed any of the previous episodes, here they are: