This past weekend was a Wild one for our Novice squad as
they travelled to St. Jacobs for the Woolwich Cup Challenge.
Our first game was Friday afternoon against the Glanbrook Hurricanes.
The Wild controlled this one from start to finish as they cruised to a very impressive 5-0 victory. Slammer pulled of the hatty for the first of his career while Half-Price picked up his first shut-out this season. Vonzie and Crusty also added single markers for the Wild.
The 2nd game proved to be a much tougher contest as the Wild went up against a very tough Woolwich Wildcats team. The Wildcats suffered a loss in their opener and were in must-win mode.
The first period was a Wild one with both teams battling back and forth exchanging a lot of good scoring chances.
The Wild would strike 1st 3 minutes into the period on a nice rush by newly appointed Captain Kirky. Kirky would take a nice feed from Vonzie and Reesor and then go in all alone and roof it into the top corner of the net to give the Wild the early lead.
Late in the period the Wildcats would battle back. After surviving intense pressure from our Wild offense, the Wildcats would chip one off the boards and then go in all alone on a breakaway. Half-Price would get a piece of it but just not enough as the puck would bounce just over the blocker to tie the game at 1 heading into the 2nd period.
Both goalies were sharp the rest of the way as the 2 teams remained tied at 1-1 late into the 3rd period despite several high quality shots at both ends of the rink.
Then with the Wild pinching in down low after a lengthy drive in the Wildcats zone the Wildcats would get loose one more time.
With just 2 seconds remaining on the clock the Wildcats forward would get in all alone on another breakaway and put one just over the blocker of Half-Price as the Wild would fall in heart-breaking fashion 2-1.
It was a tough one to swallow after what was a fantastic game played by our side.
This would set us up for a must-win game against the top team in the tournament, the Mitchell Meteors.
The Meteors were undefeated in their first 2 games winning both games convincingly and came into the tournament with a very impressive 9-2-1 record scoring over 8 goals per game in the process.
But the Wild were ready for the challenge. The Wild played their best game of the season but just could not get the bounces to go our way as we fell by a final score of 3-0.
The Wild had a ton of scoring chances but the Mitchell defense did a great job of defending their net blocking a ton of shots in front of their goaltender.
The Meteors were able to get 3 past our star net-minder who had one of his best performances all year. The first goal came in the 1st period. Half-Price made a nice save but the rebound went back to a Mitchell forward who got all of it and fired just off the outstretched glove of Half-Price and into the corner of the net.
In the 2nd period the Meteors once again were able to survive intense pressure from the Wild offense and get a big break of their own. Late in the period the Meteors would get the puck deep into the Wild zone and get a nice shot off that was stopped Half-Price. Then a mass of bodies would pile up in the Wild crease in an attempt to get at the rebound. Eventually the puck would come loose on the goal line where it was tapped in by a Mitchell attacker to extend the Meteors lead to 2-0 heading into the 3rd.
The Wild would not give up as they continued to play a hard-nosed style of play creating all kinds of chaos for the Meteors defense.
But the puck just would not bounce our way as it bounced off several bodies and continued to just miss the net on several great chances.
Then late in the period the Meteors would seal our fate. Mitchell would get a hard shot off from in close that would go off of the face mask of Half-Price and trickle into the net behind him as the Meteors would go on to a close 3-0 victory.
Both Mitchell and Woolwich would edge us in the standings to move on to the medal round where they were easily able to eliminate the 2 teams from the other Pool and battle each other for Gold in the championship game.
Unfortunately, we came just short from advancing in the Pool of Death. Despite the loss, the Wild showed the whole hockey world that a new hockey power is on the rise in Brock!
Every player on the team played hard and did some amazing things on the ice.
Kirky and Slammer displayed great leadership qualities, proving to the coaches that they made the right decision in giving them the “C” and “A” prior to the tournament. Both players battled hard every shift and encouraged the same from their teammates as they continued to cheer from the bench in between shifts.
Vonzie and Termi-Nater both had strong games at center for the Wild playing hard at both ends of the rink and winning a lot of races to the loose puck. Both would have several nice scoring chances and showed a lot of toughness battling for the puck.
Crusty continued to show some offensive flair getting a goal in the 1st game and continuing to show some nice drive going to the net in the offensive zone. Crusty also stepped up in the final game, moving back to defense where he played a very gritty and aggressive game.
Powsey and Hudsy showed a ton of grit and determination battling hard along the boards and in the corners. Powsey also showed a lot of character moving back to defense for games 1 and 2 and doing a great job in his debut at that position.
Payner and Pulley continue to impress with their feistiness in the offensive zone. Both had some nice scoring chances in the tournament and did a good job getting the puck out of our end.
Lyncher had his best performance this year. He showed a lot of grit and hussle getting back to knock the puck away from the attackers and also showed a lot of poise in carrying the puck up the ice into the attacking zone.
Wild Bill is truly earning his “Wild” nickname showing a lot of aggressiveness on the forecheck.
Reesor continues to shine on defense racing back to break up plays and making some good decisions with the puck in our end.
Half-Price continues to improve with every game making several nice saves in the tournament including several breakaways and few rebounds as well.
Great work from all. With the type of work ethic and attitude we saw at this tournament you can be sure that the Wild will be racking up a lot of points in the games ahead.
Keep up the hard work Wild! The Coaching staff is very proud of how far we have come this far. It has been truly a pleasure to see how much these kids have improved.