On Sunday, the Wild travelled to Woodville to take on the
Hurricanes. Coming off a hard fought loss to Kawartha the day before the Wild
were determined to get back into the win column.
The Wild came out strong right from the opening face-off putting a ton of pressure on the Hurricanes defense and getting all kinds of chances but just could not bury their chances.
The Wild spent most of the 1st period deep in the Hurricanes end as the Hurricanes net-minder made some great saves to keep our boys off the scoreboard.
The Hurricanes were able to get a few good chances but Watt was solid in making the big saves when needed as the game remained tied with no score heading into the 2nd.
The Wild would finally get on the board mid-way through the period as Housser pounced on the rebound from a Oke wraparound attempt and buried it into the back of the net to give the Wild a 1-0 lead.
Just a couple minutes later, the Wild thought they had their 2nd of the night as Bugg jammed one in under the pad of the Hurricanes goalie, but unfortunately the referee lost sight of the puck and called the goal off. Tough luck for our Wild as they would have to settle for a 1-0 lead going into the final period.
Just 1 minute into the period, the Wild would get the insurance goal they needed. After a flurry of activity in front, Francis would fire home a nice wrister after taking a nice feed from Oke as the Wild would extend their lead to 2-0.
The Hurricanes tried to mount the comeback but our defense were rock solid not letting them get too many high quality chances. The few times they did get through, Watt was there to make the big save.
Then midway through the period, the Wild would strike again. This time it was Oke, who after several close calls earlier in the game finally buried one with a high wrist shot that went just over the glove and into the back of the net as the Wild took a commanding 3-0 lead.
The last few minutes were tense as they Hurricanes battled hard to get to Watt but the Wild were able to hang on as the final seconds ticked off the clock to secure the 3-0 win and the 1st shutout of Watt’s young career!
A great team effort and a much needed 2 points as the Wild begin to gear up for the playoffs.
The speed line of Bugg, Parry and Malcolm were buzzing all game long as they generated all kinds of shots on net but just could not buy a goal in this one. Although Bugg’s early goal still counts in my book.
The Housser, Oke and Francis line provided the scoring for the Wild as they had many extended flurries in the Hurricane zone and proved to be just too much for the Hurricanes defense to handle. The Hurricanes goalie was very busy every time they were on the ice.
Our defense of Underwood, Kirkhner, Harder and Kirkos were beasts in the offensive zone as they won the battles at the blue line all game, keeping the puck in the Hurricanes zone. When the Hurricanes were able to break through the attack did not last long as the Wild defenders were able to quickly regain possession and get the puck out of the zone.
Watt was less busy than his typical night in the Wild goal but still had to make some difficult saves to preserve the shutout. Many of the saves came at a crucial time when the Wild were still looking for the first goal.
The Wild were missing 2 of our key players in Hunt and Geissberger, but battled through to earn the hard fought victory.
Great work boys and congratulations Wattsy!