The Waterloo Wolves and their families made the long trip to
Ottawa in hopes of redefining the team culture, growing as a team and getting
as many high caliber hockey games in as possible.
Despite falling in the semi-finals, the Wolves got exactly
what they were looking for in Ottawa. The players bought into the team systems
and executed much better, had some great bonding time together and every game
was fantastic hockey. All 6 games in 3 days!
The weekend started with a bang on many levels. Up against
the Upper Ottawa Valley Aces the Wolves had a taste of the fast pace of games
and the adversity that can come along when you are playing within a different
governing body, with a different set of reffing practices. With the wolves up 4
to 2 a body check that would be legal in Alliance was called as a 4-minute head
contact and allowed the Aces to pull their goal and take advantage of the
double minor and end the game in a 4 to 4 tie.
Ben Morton had a pair of goals with his first from Evan
Wallace and Hunter McMurdo and his second from Wallace. Matthew Ball scored
from Declan Uniac and Wallace and Wallace finished the scoring from Morton and
Cole Ledgister.
Sam Miller earned the tie for the team.
With very little time between games the Wolves rushed across
town to play the Stouffville Clippers and had some déjà vu with effort and not
the good type. The team jumped up a pair of goals and then stopped playing
allowing the game to slip away and the Wolves fell 3 to 2.
Griffin Beddis scored from Hunter McMurdo and Jack Mayne.
Cole Hunsberger scored from Evan Walsh and Matthew Ball.
Drew Cribbin was in net for the Wolves.
It was an up-hill battle after the loss for the Wolves and
the team was set to play the top team in the pool, the Nepean Raiders. With the
Wolves down some players to injury and suspension, Ethan Wasylyshyn moved to forward
and displayed his importance to the team’s depth. The Wolves needed a win badly and came out ready
to battle hard, winning 3 to 2.
Hunsberger scored from Ball and Wallace. Uniac scored from
Jake Paterson and the game winner was scored from Jordan Abbott from Wallace
and Cole Ledgister.
Miller was especially strong down the stretch run earning
the win for the Wolves.
What is a tournament round robin without a must win game? Up
against the TNT Tornado the Wolves needed a win to get into the medal rounds. With
the score tied 2 to 2 after goals from Hunsberger (assisted by Uniac) and Uniac
(assisted by Hunsberger and Wallace) the Wolves pulled Cribbin with 1:30 left
in the game. The tie simply wasn’t going to be good enough. With 10 seconds
remaining Wallace was the hero scoring the winner for the Wolves to advance.
The win placed the Wolves in 4th place and set up
another game against the Aces in the quarter finals.
It is amazing what a properly called game can do between two
teams. With the refs making calls that needed to be called and not so many
calls that they, perhaps, wanted to call, the Wolves steam rolled the Aces 4 to
0 and the team played the style the coaches envisioned all season, finally.
The Wolves were aggressive and tenacious. The forwards back
checked with purpose and the D gapped at the line making zone entries
difficult. The Aces couldn’t generate anything through the neutral zone or
establish anything in the Wolves zone. The forwards had players in the high slot,
crashing the net and creating options. It all came together for a game and can
be used to show the players what is expected and needed to be successful.
Morton scored from Jack Thompson. Beddis scored from Mayne
and McMurdo. Wallace scored from Patterson and Hunsberger and Beddis had
another goal from Mayne and McMurdo.
Miller earned the shutout for the Wolves and his 2nd
win of the tournament to go undefeated between the pipes in Ottawa. Miller had
help from some amazing defensive work from Jackson McNichol, Riley Webster and Jack
Smith.
In the semifinals, the Wolves lost to the eventual
champions, the Peterborough Petes 3 to 1. The Wolves ended up losing their captain
Ball in the game. Webster broke a skate and was unavailable for a prolonged period.
Ledgister was suspended and Abbott was hurt. The players battled hard on the
Olympic sized rink but the early game before and the shorten bench took the
steam out of the Wolves engine. Thompson breathed some life in the team scoring
an unassisted goal but that was all the Wolves could mustard in the end.
All in all, it was a fantastic weekend of hockey. A big
thank you to the families and players for making it so much fun and such a
success. The team left Ottawa a better team than they came which was the true
goal. Now the Wolves will take the lessons into league play and continue to
work towards the chance of winning the Alliance banner!
Go Wolves!