Minor Atom Wolves Take A Hard Fought Series
A hard fought series ended on Sunday between the Huron-Perth Lakers and the Waterloo Wolves with the Wolves taking the final game convincingly. Waterloo Wolves had to be considered favorites going in, but there is a reason why you play the games.
Waterloo carried most of the puck possession throughout the series and held a territorial and shooting advantage, but a staunch Huron-Perth collapsed team defense down low made getting pucks to the net extremely difficult. Both Huron-Perth goalkeepers played resiliently and a very disciplined set of fore-checking forwards did an excellent job of taking any easy passing lines away from our breakout. Nothing was easy out there. Time to dig deep.
Right from Game 1 where the Wolves pulled out a 1-0 victory it was evident this was going to be a real epic battle between two evenly matched and hard-working teams. The Wolves were fortunate to win game 1 but did so with fabulous goaltending from Misha Stastna who came away with a very well-deserved shut-out. The lone goal scorer for the game was Kyle Maloney with assists going to Jake Thompson and Misha Stastna, even chipped in with the offense earning the rare goalie assist.
Game 2 was the reverse, as the Wolves found a way to get pucks to the net and peppered the Laker goaltender but lost 1-0 as they could not get to the rebounds and find the back of the net.
Game 3 was by far the best entire game the Wolves played. The Laker goaltender made over 30 saves to keep the game close but the Wolves cycling onslaught would not be denied and Wolves eventually prevailed 3-1. Single goals were scored by Jaxson Murray, Copper Way and Jake Anderson. Assists were earned by Kyle Maloney, Brayden Hislop, Spencer Young, Kyle Cupolo and Jake MacDonald.
Game 4 reverted back to the hard fought closely matched series of the first two games with the Lakers pulling ahead with a late goal with 1:20 left in the third period to win 3-2 right after Wolves had tied it late following a well-executed power-play. The series was even and going back to Waterloo at 2 games apiece. Both Preston Young and Jake Thompson scored for the Wolves with assists going to Kyle Maloney and Jake Thompson.
Game 5 was a tensely awaited match as both teams knew the series was at stake. With a big commitment to puck support of each other on the walls on the fore-check, the Wolves had a fantastic start winning battles and scored early when Kyle Maloney found space in the slot and scored in the first minute of play. Using our points effectively to generate shots and break down and stretch out the Huron-Perth collapsed zone coverage, the Wolves began to create space for themselves in the offensive zone and continued to push and scored two more goals in the first period to lead at the buzzer 3-0 with Brayden Hislop and Spencer Young scoring the second and third goals. The Lakers, as they had throughout the series, would show no signs of giving up, and were rewarded with a goal in the second period. As both teams entered the third, the score was 3-1. It had looked like it was 4-1 on an excellently executed set play straight out of our practice sessions on the powerplay, as Jake Anderson took the cross ice D2D feed and rifled it home but the goal was disallowed on a dubious crease violation and a "dramatic" celebration was short-lived. Nobody let the bad call phase them, as on the same shift, Spencer Young would score his second goal of the game to ice it for the Wolves as they won 4-1. Ryan McGeown picked up two assists, while singles went to Jake Anderson, Jake MacDonald, Cooper Way, Jaxson Murray, and Owen Parsons. Misha Stastna held a frustrated Laker team at bay, particularly in the second and third period, with solid playoff goaltending and bailed his team out on several occasions.
This closely matched and hard fought series provided some adversity and should do the Minor Atom Wolves well as they enter the Alliance Semi-Finals and now face the West Division leaders, the Elgin-Middlesex Chiefs.
Go Wolves Go!
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