The Novice Select Wolves had an
excellent showing at the Fergus Fall Frenzy, ultimately losing in the
championship game to a very strong team from Toronto.
On Friday evening, the boys found themselves up against the eventual tournament champions, the Ted Reeve Tornados. The boys got behind quickly, and could not solve the offensive onslaught from the Tornados. The player of the game was Dexter V. for his versatile play between forward and defense.
After the tough loss, the boys showed up in Elora for a 7am appointment with the Ancaster Avalanche. The boys controlled the tempo with goals scored by Lucas T., Nate B (although given he forgot his jersey, the goal is technically owned by our goalie Deio G!), Sacha W., Callum T., and Dexter V. Credit should be given to the Avalanche goalie who faced a relentless barrage of shots and made the Wolves earn every goal they got. A shutout was recorded by Deio G. And Joshua C. The Player of the game went to Nate B. for his excellent defensive play and nice end-to-end breakaway goal.
Later in the day, the Wolves faced off against the George Bell Titans. The boys would not allow themselves to be intimidated by the fact that George Bell had just tied the Ted Reeve Tornados, who handed the wolves a decisive loss the night before. To the contrary, the wolves came out hunting and caught the Titans off guard with a first period goal scored by Caden B. The wolves were relentless - they raced hard for every puck, and played with their heart on their sleeves. They controlled the play throughout the game and put shot after shot on a strong Titan goalie. Finally at 6:04 in the second period, Terence L. was perfectly positioned in front for a rebound and made no mistake about it, burying it in the back of the net before their goalie could react. The Titans scored one soon after to bring George Bell back into the game. Although the Wolves would continue their attack throughout the third period, no further goals would be scored, and the game would end in a 2-1 Waterloo victory. The player of the game went to Nohl A. for shutting the Titans down on multiple occasions on defense when it looked like they may be closing in on a goal.
In the semi-finals, the wolves faced off against the Barrie Colts. Again the Wolves would not let themselves be intimidated by a team that handily beat the Kitchener Rangers, who had dealt the wolves their first loss of the season a couple weeks prior. As with the Titans, the Wolves came out flying and set the tempo early in the game, refusing to give up an inch without a fight. At 5:54 in the first period, Gavin A. scored a nice top shelf goal to get the Wolves on the board. Joshua C. made many quality saves during his tenure in the first half of the game to keep the Colts scoreless. In the second half of the game, Gavin A. would add another goal, and a third goal was scored by Caden B. Deio would face less shots, but turned them all aside. The player of the game went to Joshua C. for coming up with some big stops on route to a 3-0 Waterloo win.
With that win, the Wolves advanced to the championship final with a rematch against the Ted Reeve Tornados. Although the Wolves gave it their best and played a much improved game relative to the first meeting between the two clubs, the Tornados would prove to be too much and the Wolves had to settle for the silver medal. In the process however, they finally managed to get some goals on the board against the Tornados, scored by Caden B and Lucas T. The player of the game went to Lucas T. who never gave up and worked hard every shift to try to put the wolves back in the game.
The tournament MVP was awarded to the boy who worked hard consistently every game and was in the running for player of the game in every match. Gavin A. received the well deserved honour.
Well done Wolves!