The Waterloo Wolves Minor Midget MD Hockey Team wins a nail-biter against long time nemesis St. Catharines 4-3 to take the tough John MacDonald Memorial championships!! . . .
After going 1-1 after the first two round-robin games, the Wolves needed to not only win their remaining game, but also by a shutout (for the extra point)! The Wolves came through with a 7-0 whooping to secure a spot in the semi-finals versus Kitchener Blue (who finished 1st overall).
In the semi-final game, the teams traded goals in the 1st and 2nd periods, and with just over 3 minutes left in the game Mason Webster stung a wrist shot in the top corner, to take the lead (assists went to Morgan Price-Armstrong and Nick Boyko), and Ganesha Ashoka sealed it with an empty netter (from Robert Doyle and Tim Oliver). The other two goals were by Nick Palmer and Garret Gray, with assists from Webster, Connor Kennedy, Robert Doyle, and Ashoka.
Mason Leite stood tall through-out the game - keeping the Wolves close at all times!
The finals were a roller-coaster of emotions. Doyle started the game off with a devastating hit that got the
Wolves bench screaming. Boyko and Palmer followed up with an aggressive forechecking effort to steal the puck and feed a wide-open Webster for an early 1-0 lead.
St. Kit's then stormed back with two quick power-play goals to take a 2-1 lead, but a nice passing play by Boyko and James Burns set up Palmer for the tying goal with just 29 seconds left in the 1st period.
After a scoreless 2nd period, St.Catharines scored the go-ahead goal with 11 minutes remmaining. But a couple of minutes later, Matt Gallant scored with a wicked wrist shot in the top left corner, after a fantastic feed from Jacob Wallace and Zack Hedley. The momentum shifted, and at 4:28, and the Wolves on a power-play, Palmer cleanly wins the face off back to Boyko who fed it for Gray's winning one-timer from the point. In the dying minutes of the game Mason Leite stood on his head and the defense (Kennedy, Gray, Burns, Price-Armstrong, Oliver, and Noah Koop) did an awesome job clearing pucks and opponents to preserve the Championship win!
Congratulations Wolves on an AWESOME WEEKEND!