It was another third period collapse brought on by undiscipline
play by the Waterloo Wolves in a 3 to 2 loss to the Brantford 99ers.
The Wolves needed to get a pair of wins against the 99ers to
secure an optimal placing headed into playoffs and a chance to control their
destiny. However, it now appears the team will need to take the harder road to
the Alliance finals.
The goal remains the same. The belief remains the same. And
the roster…..dare I say, might finally play a game with all players with some
positive news on the injury front.
It was Antonio Parisi who opened the scoring for the Wolves
from Casey Ross. Owen Ottens literally undressed the entire 99ers team, scoring
an unassisted goal for his team. Interestingly, 4 of the 5 goals in the game
came on the powerplay, including the 99ers game winner.
The Wolves were missing Ben Sawyer and Ciaran Guitton-Quayle
in the game. Both could return as early as next week.
Reed Rozema played defense for his team and the Wolves also
called up Cole Fitzgerald who played a fantastic game. Jackson Hunter, Logan
Murtha, Cole Gardiner and Ottens rounded off the other defenders.
The game featured some real positives before the third. Dell
Wang and Allan Wang were buzzing with Grayson Seiling. Logan Landry, Hiatt Rich
and Carter Talboom had a lot of jump in their game. Cam Murray finally returned
and was back to his aggressive forechecking. And Ben Schofield was a menace on
the backcheck.
Once again, the Wolves had Jake Howard in net the Wolves. It
seems to be a broken record talking about Howard’s competence, calmness and
efforts to always carry his team, but that’s the facts. It has been incredible
watching him lead his team into battle each week.
The Wolves will have two more regular season games before
playoffs begin. The team will need to use those games to finalize lines,
defensive pairs and systems. The real season soon begins and with a healthy
lineup in sight the Wolves coaches are hopeful of catching lightning at the
most important of times!
Go Wolves!