Wolves Split St. Patty Playoff Weekend
In
the spirit of St. Patrick’s Day we will start things off with a traditional
Irish toast, “Here’s to cheating, stealing, fighting and drinking. If you
cheat, may you cheat death; if you steal, may you steal a woman’s heart; if you
fight, may you fight for a brother; and if you drink, may you drink with me!”.
Ah,
yes…..these Waterloo Wolves can drive a parent to drinking!
This
weekend was a tale of two teams.
There
was the Waterloo Wolves team that failed to arrive on time losing 3 to 2
against the Kitchener Jr Rangers and then there was the Wolves team that
stormed into action winning 7 to 1 over the Rangers.
In
game one the Wolves missed assignments, over committed with poor choices and looked
like a group of individuals pulling in opposite directions. It took the team
time to get into the game. And sadly, by the time they did, it was 3 to 0 for
the Rangers after the first period. Mitch Simmons was left to his own devices
and did all he could to help keep his team breathing but there was very little
life in the players in front of him.
Perhaps
that was what the team needed. Slowly they emerged as the better team and
finished strong pressing to tie the game. Cole Hunsberger scored the Wolves
first goal shortly after a penalty expired from Yianni Peppas and Declan Uniac.
The Wolves started to press and with the goalie pulled added the second goal,
once again, by Hunsberger and assisted by Peppas and Uniac. There was a sense
of belief the Wolves could tie the game but sadly fell just short.
The
game left a foul taste in the Wolves mouth. As it should. The players are a
proud bunch and knew they did not play to their standards. This set the stage
for Sunday.
The Wolves
came out on the attack. Not only were they a cohesive group that skated hard
and fought for loose pucks, but they supported each other and the puck creating
waves on the attack and layers in the defensive zone. It was relentless. It was
the Wolves playing to their capabilities.
Uniac
opened the scoring from Matthew Ball and Carson Bernhardt. Jacob Reid-Brant
responded from Matthew Anderson. Anderson then scored from Ball and Bernhardt.
Uniac had his second goal from a nice shot/pass from Connor Palmer and
Anderson. Ryan Beckner banged home a goal from Griffin Beddis and Jake
Patterson before Uniac completely his hattrick scoring from Peppas. Reid-Brant finished
things up with a highlight reel goal dancing through the Rangers team to
collect his second goal in the game from Tyler O’Hearn and Bernhardt.
Ben
Pendleton gobbled up any loose pucks and never allowed any second opportunities
steering pucks away from harm’s way as he only surrendered one goal in which he
couldn’t see the puck.
The
credit for the win goes beyond the goals scored. It ran much deeper than the
score. The Wolves had players like Caleb Cumming stepping up to vow a physical
presence and play a greater role as a leader. Cole Ledgister moving into the center
spot and playing dominate minutes for his team. Cullen Derry using his
strengths and playing as a forward on the power play and defender at even
strength giving his coach options and a dialed in effort. Tate Merritt standing
guys up on the line and battling in front of both nets for his teammates.
Jackson McNichol killing penalties, laying the body, and supporting his team.
It
was a full team effort and couldn’t have come at a better time. There are no
excuses in playoffs. You need to arrive on time and you need to be ready to put
it all on the line. Effort is king. Adversity is expected. And it takes a
complete team to succeed. The players are ready and all in.
Let’s
go Wolves!