On Friday and Saturday, the Brock Wild played 2 very
different teams but suffered unfortunate losses in both games.
On Friday the Wild travelled to Omemee to take on a very skilled Kawartha Red Coyotes squad. This game was easily our toughest opponent of the year as they had several highly skilled players that could really shoot the puck.
Right off the opening face-off we knew we were in tough as Kawartha’s first shot rang off the crossbar. The hard shots would continue all period long with little chance for our goalie Eric Parry to make the saves as the Coyotes would take a 7-0 lead after just 1 period of play.
Despite the score, the Wild never gave up as they battled hard every shift. Unfortunately, the Coyotes did not let up as they managed to get 4 more before Bradley Pearce would finally get the Wild on the scoreboard with a beautiful shot to the low blocker side.
The Coyotes kept coming however adding 2 more before the period would end.
In the 3rd period, the Wild battled hard to get a few goals back but just could not get the bounces to go our way.
Parry, not giving up, showed a lot of character in making several nice saves in the 3rd as he would not let the score get to him.
The Wild continued to play hard and limited the high powered Coyotes offence to just 2 goals in the 3rd as they would ultimately fall 15-1.
Despite the score, each player showed a lot of heart and character as they continued to play hard right to the final buzzer regardless of the final outcome.
Rhys Benge was awarded the Ferell player of the game for his tenacious back-checking all game long.
The next day the Wild returned home to host the Millbrook Stars.
The Wild got off to a rough start in this one as the Stars would get loose on a breakaway just 1 minute in and slide one under the pads of Blake Brock to take an early 1-0 lead. But for the rest of the period it was all Wild mounting a furious attack and getting several high quality scoring chances.
But little did the Wild know that the Stars had a young version of Patrick Roy in the net who robbed the Wild with dozens of spectacular saves keeping the score 1-0 after one period of play.
In the 2nd period the Wild would finally get on the board as Bradley Pearce would get one past the Stars net-minder to tie the game at 1. But just seconds later the Stars would get another break and slide one just under the pad of Brock to regain the 1 goal lead.
The Wild would continue to attack but just could not solve the Stars net-minder. Brock made several nice saves to keep the game within reach but the Stars would add one late in the 3rd after a mad scramble in front of the Wild net as they would hand the Wild a 3-1 loss.
Eric Parry was awarded the Ferell Player of the game award for his hard skating and fore-checking.
In both games the Wild fought hard every shift and really deserved a win in that second one.
Despite not getting the win each player can be proud of the heart and character they showed on every shift.
From solid goaltending from Eric Parry and Blake Brock, end to end rushes by John Malcolm, Bradley Pearce and Borden Davidson, solid back-checking from Ethan Kirkos, Rhys Benge and Kael Cresanto, some hard two way play from Colin Lynch, Mason Stewart, Nathan Giles and Kaiden Smith as well as hard fore-checking by Karsyn Payne and Camden Slama the team showed strong determination and grit all game long and a ton of heart in both games.
Keep working hard everyone! The wins will come. We are all proud of the effort and improvements that we are seeing every game!