Akeson Scores Two in the Third to Put Wolves over River Drivers

By Jay Harris

 The Watertown Wolves faced off against the Berlin River Drivers at the Watertown Municipal Arena Friday night.

 The lone goal of the first period was scored by Berlin's Yuto Osawa just fifty-seven seconds into the period. Watertown and Berlin were able to kill their three and four penalties respectively.

 Marley Keca would tie it up for the Wolves when Ryan Connolly passed the puck to Scott Roy, whose shot was deflected to Keca's stick to make the goal. Scott Roy was charged with high sticking to give Pavel Kubena an opportunity for the River Drivers to take back the lead on the power play and make it 2-1. Berlin was able to hold the lead for the rest of the period.

 Jeremy Akeson tied the game up for the Wolves at 12:55 in the third period on assists from Brett Liscomb and Nate O'Brien. Danilla Alistratov made a plethora of great saves in the period to keep the River Drivers at bay. With just 1:19 left in the game Akeson got the game-winning goal on an assist from Jesse Facchini to give the Wolves a 3-2 victory.

 Head Coach Phil Esposito shared these comments after the game: "It was one of those nights it was a big character win for us. We kind of took the first two periods off, and in the third period I read them the riot act between the second and third period. They came out and played hard in the third. I mean, having Akes back is big positive for us. He's a big body who goes to the net hard, and when you go to the net hard good things happen. He scored two goals tonight. That was the difference maker for us to win that game. Those were three big points for us tonight. We got to finish this weekend off with Danbury tomorrow night here and in Danbury on Sunday. If we keep going hard and play like we did in the third period tonight we'll be fine all weekend."

Game-winning goal scorer Jeremy Akeson was issued the first star of the game for his efforts in the third period. The first goal of the game to get the Wolves on the board by Marley Keca warranted him second star honors. Danilla Allistratov's 94.7 save percentage and ferocious saves earned him the third star.

The Watertown Wolves sit in fourth place in the Federal Hockey League standings just .08 percent behind the third-place Danbury Titans who they face Saturday, March 11 at the Watertown Municipal Arena. A victory in that game would move the Wolves into third place. The game will start at 7:30 pm.