The Brock Wild opened the 2018-19 season on the road against
the always tough Woodville Hurricanes on Friday night with a huge 5-4 victory!
The 1st period was a back and forth affair with both teams getting some nice chances and both goalies making some nice saves. Despite some nice chances by the Wild, it would be the Hurricanes who would strike first as they would get loose on a breakaway and fire a shot just over the glove hand of Eric Parry to take a 1-0 lead late in the first.
In the 2nd the Wild came out on fire. Jayvon Stevens would get the Wild on the board just 30 seconds into the period taking a nice breakout pass from Ethan Kirkos and Nathan Giles to get in all alone and bury one into the back of the Hurricanes net to tie the game a 1 apiece.
Two minutes later, the Wild would strike again as Jayvon would get loose on yet another breakaway and tuck home his own rebound to give the Wild a 2-1 lead.
The lead would be short-lived however as the Hurricanes would tie it with just 2 minutes left in the period. Parry made a sprawling save but could not recover in time for the rebound as the Hurricanes put it top shelf to tie the game at 2.
Then with just 30 seconds left in the period Stevens would strike again as he would race past two Hurricane defenders to beat them to a loose puck and blast one through the Hurricanes net-minder to regain a 1 goal lead heading into the 3rd.
The Hurricanes battled us hard in the first half of the 3rd and would get the equalizer 5 minutes in. After a flurry in the Wild zone, the Hurricanes made a nice centering pass out front where a Hurricanes winger was able to put a quick one-timer just past the outstretched pad of Parry to once again tie the game at 3.
Just 1 minute later the Hurricanes would strike again as the Hurricanes forward was able to slip in behind our defense to go in all alone and lift one just over the glove hand to give the Hurricanes a 4-3 lead late in the period.
But the Wild would battle back. With just under 4 minutes left William Lehman made a nice pass over to Colin Lynch who would make another nice pass up to Camden Slama. Slama would then go in alone and bury it past the Hurricanes goalie to tie the game at 4.
Just 30 seconds later Stevens was at it again, this time taking a nice breakout pass from Ethan Kirkos and firing a beauty into the low corner of the net to give the Wild a 5-4 lead.
The Hurricanes tried to battle back but Parry made a few big time saves late to secure the victory.
Although the offense was led by the 4 goals of Jayvon Stevens, the victory was a total team effort with a lot of big positives seen at every position.
Our defense made up of Ethan Kirkos, Colin Lynch, Kael Cresanto, Rhys Benge and Nathan Giles did a great job battling down low and sending the puck up the boards to clear our zone. They also showed some offensive spark carrying the puck into the offensive zone and making some nice passes up to the forwards.
Our forwards played exceptionally well. Karsyn Payne had several nice chances including a breakaway and was strong on the forecheck.
Our wingers consisting of Hudson Beach, William Lehman, Michelle Pullin, Logan Powlesland and Karsyn did a great job of battling in the corners and against the boards to get the puck out of our end and pushing the puck into the offensive zone.
Camden Slama also had a strong game at Center making some strong plays down low and creating several nice scoring chances in the offensive zone.
Eric Parry had a strong game in net making a lot of nice saves including a few breakaways.
Overall a fantastic start to the season. Great work Wild!
Next up was a battle with Lindsay Muskies at home on Saturday afternoon. Stay tuned!