Monday Night: Waterloo 1 Brantford 0
Again we were managing the home front and missed this game. The unbiased feedback from Jesse was that Luke scored a long shot that caught the far corner ruining the outstanding play of the Brantford goalie. And never one to let the dramatic pass, Luke scored it in the final minute!
Our netminder's other comments were how proud he was of his poke check and firing some jabs at one of the Brantford players who was screening.
From my discussions with Jesse's chauffeur, yeah we talk sometimes, the second period was full of penalties. Thats all I got...again if anyone who wants to fill in the blanks, we would be happy to cut and paste them in here.
Tidbit ...finally have Luke and Bennie's Wolf of the Week pictures up (week's 7 & 8) - that should make Luke's friend happy...we got a note from one of his female classmates, a Miss Beattie, berating us for not having Lucky's picture up!
Sunday Night: Waterloo 4 Burlington 3
I have no idea what happened in this one aside from the fact that the Wolves won. Any roving reporter want a shot at this one? Please!
An anonymous report... The first goal was scored by Colin on
a rebound from Luke. Burlington almost immediately tied the game after
Waterloo's first goal. The second Waterloo goal was from a pass cycled
from behind the net by Colin to Luke who scored after being coached from
the stands by Rick who bellowed "go to the net Luke!". Luke did just that,
scored and then Dan turned around on the bench and told Rick "good call"
:).
The third was on a rifle of a shot from Nolan on the point that was
deflected in by Ryan. The fourth and final goal was scored by Dominic
unassisted on a pretty break away, that resulted in the yellow/red/grey...
I don't know what colour line they are 'cause I never go to practice (Dom,
Colin, Luke) getting a hat trick for the line.
The game was pretty rough, and a Burlington player was ejected in the third
period for intent to injure after running Hendie after the whistle in front
of the net.
Wednesday Waterloo 3 Cambridge 4
This one was an odd duck for a variety of reasons. First and foremost we lost "Eddie" to a broken wrist on a freak accident. Apparently he simply ran into an opponent away from the play and hyper extended his wrist beyond the normal range and ended up with a fracture. We are really going to miss him.
The next quirk was this was a game where the seats in the penalty box stayed cold. There were some penalties but very tame. And it wasn't that the refs weren't calling penalties, it was more the boys (and gurls) decided to simply play hockey.
The Wolves came out buzzing for the first set of shifts only to collapse and watch Cambridge jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead. The first on a breakaway from a faceoff in our zone (!) and then followed it up with a "seeing eye" screen shot from the boards that snuck through five pairs of skates and sticks only to hit Jesse's stick and jumped over the goal line.
The Wolves continued to be lacklustred in the second and on a long shot deflected by the defence over Jesse's glove (...note to all defence from a goalie dad... watch any Don Cherry video and pay attention to the lines "let the goalie make the saves" and, "don't put your stick out at the last second..."). Then the Hawks were up 4-0 on a pretty backhand goal that found its way over the blocker.
Then came the "near TSN Turning Point". Right after the fourth goal Jesse heard the coaches calling for "Jess(ica)" and JP skated off the ice in response. Poor Steve got thrown into cold only to watch the refs give the Wolves a goal before he stretched his second leg. We aren't sure if the puck was in the net before the whistle, but we do know the ref did not blow the whistle to signify a goal. Therefore no goal should have been awarded, but it was and its nice to get a break for a change! So the second ended 4-1 Hawks.
In the third Bennie had one of those shifts that warrants entry on the highlight film. He scored two beautiful goals within a minute of each other. Both great shots from the slot (amazing how many goals get scored from shots in the slot!) that cleanly beat their goalie.
The other notable performance in the third was Steve facing three breakaways and keeping the Wolves in the game.
Dom was flying the whole game ...must be a result of playing a few games up with the big club...
Monday: Waterloo 2 Woodstock 3
Last night Dom supplied the offence and for the first 35 minutes it looked like the battle for first place was all Waterloo's. Stevie started the game with a great glove save on a breakaway for his first save of the game. Unfortunately a few minutes later he missed on a rocket off of the crossbar. The other story of the first period was Big Ben playing like Tie Domi. Anything in white that had the puck was getting filled in.
It didn't take long for Dom to reply as he went 1 on 2, cut in front of the two defenceman and launched his own slapshot that snuck in the top right corner of the net. Then a few shifts later he showed great hustle to get by their defence and sent a perfect pass to Luke who deflected it into the net. The first ended 2-1.
Then came the second period and the referee in chief of Woodstock Hockey must have entered the building because the whistles started to blow. Unofficially there had to be 15 penalties in the 15 minutes of playing time. I don't think anyone had a full 2 minute powerplay and at one point we did have a 5 on 3, but no good scoring chances. Nolan took a few of the oddest penalties, probably because the end result was their players being whacked hard. The first was when the Navy Vet held his stick and skated away with it. When Nolan caught up to him, the Vet was thumped cleanly, albiet in the danger zone of the boards, and #22 was given 2 minutes.
The third period continued with the parade to the penalty box, but it was the last couple that killed us. Around the four minute mark the Vets tied it and then came the TSN Turning Point. With about 3:30 left in the game we picked up a minor. Wolves made a slow change - the ref did not put up his hand to signal end of changes - and we got a bench minor for critizing/arguing/whatever they called it the ref. So Woodstock was 5 on 3 and they scored the winning goal and killed another minute on the remaining powerplay.
Saturday: Waterloo 1 Hamilton 3
This is a brief write up since we did not see the game. In a nutshell we had zero shots in the first period and ten for the entire game. Rumour has it that Dom scored our only goal on a nice backhand. Hamilton scored 2 shorthanded goals (I hope we refused all powerplays after the second..lol) and a powerplay.
The one goal might make the video highlights as in hindsight it was a bit comical. On an offensive face-off, the drawwent back to the point where both defence went for the puck and both defence crashed into each other leaving the puck free.
Sunday: Waterloo 6 Burlington 3
Personally I do not know why coaches like Burlington's do not teach their kids how to behave on the ice. Sure he pulled back a player at the end of the game, but that was probably to prevent the suspensions, not the crime. Anyways for the second game in a row the Wolves showed great composure and avoided taking unnecessary penalties, and this time skated off with a decisive victory.
Coach Fred mixed up the lines and is now in line for the Lombardi Award as the team responded with a season high record of six goals. Defensively we gave up three goals but it was not indicative of the game at all. The defense was rock solid for most of the game. A quick analysis of their goals shows the first was on a fluke deflection off of a players shaft, the second was a little mistake and the final one was on their powerplay and was a rebound after a goalmouth scramble. No real defensive mistakes, could have only been 6-1 or possibly a shutout with a little luck.
There were several cheap shots - Bennie took the first on the first shift and Jessica was belly down on the ice three times for a reason. Which is how she scored her first goal and injured their goalie (yeah right... worst Oscar performance of the year). Colin's hit on the buzzer at the end was not well received by Burlington, but as they say on the street, "if ya dish it out, ya better be able to take it!".
The one player that stood out for the Wolves was Luke. He had more hits in this game than he has ever had in one game in his career. And half of them were before he took a vicious chop from their goalie.
Sorry for the late write ups, we have been very busy lately...
Friday Waterloo 0 Hamilton 1
Maybe it was because we never play on Friday nights that the team only sort of showed up to play? On the other hand the powerplays were clicking like a Swiss watch, moving the puck around, using the point, the points getting the shots through - awesome. Nolan was cranking up the slapshot so often that he blew a sock and had to leave the ice (and I thought his arms were getting tired...lol).
Defensively the Wolves limited their scoring chances to about three (we're counting the header save as one, only because it was entertaining!). Their one goal was a series of about three defensive mistakes and shows how all the little plays add up (today's theme!).
I was impressed by how our 'little' players avoided getting run by the less agile Bulldogs. Two plays in particular, Jessica at our blueline and Brandon in the corner - not only avoided getting hit, but dumped their man in the process. The bigger they are, the slower their feet, or something like that.
Offensively there were about six pucks sitting in the crease waiting for a Wolf. Maybe next time. And the team showed great smarts by avoiding taking any retailation penalties. And Jesse got away with one after he took a stick to the throat (note: His parents spoke to him... okay his dad did.)
Saturday: Waterloo 3 Brantford 2
Saturday was our first game since the Hespler tourney and the first time ever with a complete team! As per usual we missed Jesse's performance and since Coach Fred told him on Saturday he played a good game, he must have played a good game! (I know he told him something else on Sunday and it was greatly appreciated by the netminder).
Maybe if we get someone else to send in a report we can post more of the hightlights, lowlights and humourous events...
Sunday Waterloo 3 Cambridge 4
This one started out as a bit of a yawner for the first half of the game as neither team generated any offence or interest. But then somebody did something and the poor timekeeper was the hardest working person in the rink. Steve made a huge stop on a breakaway early in the first and it seemed to lift his confidence and take the wind out of Cambridge's sails.
Don't take the following as gospel truth, but I think this is how the game progressed...
The goose eggs were cracked with a few minutes left in the second as the Wolves jumped out to a 1-0 lead only to watch Cambridge come back and tie it up. Before the period ended the Wolves scored on a beautiful 2 on 1 with Jordan making a pretty pass to __________ (?anyone) who chipped it in past the goalie.
Then there were tons of penalties, mostly of the stupid variety, mostly to Cambridge (fyi stupid penalties are the ones after the whistle...). At one point both teams had 4 guys sitting in the box (did I mention the timekeeper earned the paycheck?). The bad news for Waterloo was that after a couple of defensive miscues Cambridge crawled back into the game and took the lead.
The game did get interesting as the Wolves scored their third goal in the final minute to make it 4-3, but never got another chance after that.
tidbits... now that we have a complete team, Fred had some shuffling to do and Brandon was thrown back on defence where he played exceptionally well -Remember he hasn't played D all year AND he missed the christmas tourney too!... If anyone needs a Raven raffle ticket see Pat... if anyone wants a slightly used hair straightener - see Pat too! ... Next game is a rare Friday night tilt down in Hamilton.
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