Waterloo Timber Wolves are off to the finals on Sunday as they edged out the Pickering Panthers 5 - 1.
The team continued to work hard, battle for the puck and look for their open line mate throughout the game. It took the team a while in the first to find a chink in Pickering's armor. Jake Patterson fired a blistering shot from the point. Griffin Beddis picked it up, passed it over to Tim Hodson. Tim nearly got the goal. It was Finn Skuterud who potted the puck into the open net. Late in the period, Quade Willson fired the puck from the blue line. It found Thomas Chan who one-timed the pass over to Seamus Riley-McKay making it 2 - 0.
At the start of the second period, Griffin Beddis drew the puck back to Quade Willson. Quade looked for his open defensive partner, Jude Hawthorne and then shoveled the puck over. Jude dished the puck back to Griffin who waltzed in and tucked the puck under the pads of the Pickering goalie.
Austin Zappitelli's 9th shutout performance of the season really drives home a bid for the Vezna Trophy for the year's outstanding goaltender.
In the third, Thomas Chan and Cole Hunsberger kept the pressure on the Panthers forwards. Just before Thomas stepped off the ice on the line change, he sent the puck up ahead to Cole Hunsberger. There were no Panther defensemen guarding the zone as Cole made it 4 - 1 with time winding down. Cole Hunsberger put one more in the net for good measure late in the period and defensemen Matthew Johnstone and Quade Willson picked up the assists.
Great work boys. Keep it up as you head into the finals on Sunday. All of Canada is cheering for you.
Tim Hodson took the hardest worker helmet for a couple of late back-checks against Pickering ensuring the puck got no closer than the hash marks.
Quade Willson earned the team player assist stick for his 3 assists on the night.
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