With the Alliance regular season
winding down, the Waterloo Wolves were reminded there are no easy games in the
U18 AA/A loop. Any team that isn’t ready at the drop of the puck risks the
chance of losing.
And the Wolves tested this theory over
the weekend.
In a 4 to 3 win over the Hamilton
Huskies, the Wolves were lackluster for the first two periods but were able to
press hard in the third to earn the win. It was a big win, but unfortunately, the
effort repeated the next game, and this time, it cost the Wolves a point in a 3
to 3 tie against the Stratford Warriors.
Once again, the Wolves slept walked
through two periods and came alive in the third, but, this time, the Warriors
spoiled things tying the game with just a hair over 30 seconds remaining.
Casey Ross continued his goal
scoring streak with another pair of games with goals. Against the Huskies, Ross
started with an assist on an Ethan Kralik goal with Allan Wang also getting an
assist and then Ross scored from Kralik. Ben Morton scored from Jack Mayne and
the game winner came on the power play from Connor Wilson with Owen Miloje and
Morton drawing assists.
Versus the Warriors, Ross got the
Wolves on the board with a goal from Christopher Ding but the Wolves found
themselves down 2 to 1 when their Captain, Morton, tied the game unassisted.
Shortly afterwards, Miloje went end to end and sent a rocket in for the lead,
unassisted, however the Wolves settled with a tie.
Another lesson the team is learning
is they are strongest when the roster is full and healthy. In Hamilton the team
dressed only 4 defenders with Jack Gardner, Logan Murtha, Evan Walsh and Miloje
available in the game. Both Ding and Jack Smith (injured) missed the game. In
fact, the Wolves had to kill a penalty with Morton playing defense. Smith was
unable to dress against Stratford as well. The team relied on their forwards
like Reed Rozema, Jacob Shaughnessy and Keegan Weatherdon to do the heavy
lifting back checking and pressing the oppositions players.
Another strong area for the team,
yet again, was the goaltending. Ciaran Guitton-Quayle picked up the win for the
Wolves in Hamilton and Jake Howard was a big reason the team only lost a point
and tied the game. Both were their typical strong selves.
The sky certainly is not falling,
picking up 3 of possible 4 points, remaining in first place, but it is the time
of year you need to address and correct issues quickly. So, the Wolves need to
head into next weekend’s game ready to compete. Both games, against the Brantford
99ers and rival Kitchener Jr Rangers, will be battles and require the players
full effort, start to finish.
Show them who you are Wolves!