Jan 21, 2019 | Ken Stark | 273 views
White Wolves Lose in Semis of Byron Optimist Tourney
Peewee White headed to London a player short for the Byron Optimist Tournament looking to rebound from two ties to finish league play the week before.
On Friday, goals were hard to come by all around. In the first game, despite controlling the play, the Wolves would settle for a 2-1 win versus the Brampton 45s with Matthew T. getting the first and Jacob S. notching his first of the year and the GWG. In the second game, the Wolves would fall behind 2-0 to the eventual pool winners and tourney finalists, North London Nationals. Gavin W. would make it 2-1 but the Wolves failed to complete the comeback.
On Saturday, the new forward lines clicked, with Hayden T. finding the net for 3 and Gavin W. adding 2 in a 5-2 win over West London. With North London clinching their pool earlier in the day, the Wolves needed a big win over Hamilton White to secure the wild card berth into the semis. The Wolves came out hungry and Chaz P. getting one and Hayden T. adding 2 for the 3-0 lead. Lucas S. would then make it 4-0. The Wolves would get a bit sloppy and allow Hamilton to come back. Andrew Z-D would find the net with 2 goals however to secure the 6-3 win and a high enough goals for % to allow the Wolves to move on.
On Sunday, the Wolves faced the top seeded London Bandits in the semis. Enoch B. would notch the first goal of the game, but the Bandits would come right back to tie it 1-1. The Bandits would then take a 2-1 lead on what appeared to be a shot that hit the cross bar. A hard fore-check by Keelan R. at the beginning of the third would tie the game 2-2, but again, the Bandits immediately responded to take a 3-2 lead. The Bandits would add an insurance goal with less than 30s left for the 4-2 lead. The Bandits would then go on to win the tourney over North London.
The Wolves with Ethan A. a speedy recovery.
Up next - the White Wolves hit the road for East/Central Tier 1 playoff games against Kitchener Blue and Hamilton Red.