Gjurich's 50th Goal Caps Wolves Victory Over Knights

By Jay Harris

Watertown, NY - The Watertown Wolves hosted the North Shore Knights at the Watertown Municipal Arena on Friday night. Head Coach Trevor Karasiewicz and the Wolves looked to dig their heels in further to the 2nd place standing they hold in the Federal Hockey League. The Wolves stand to gain home ice advantage in the best-of-three semi-finals in the Commissioner's Cup Playoffs if they maintain their position in the standings.

Watertown's Aleh Shypitsyn started the scoring for the night with assists from Matt Caranci and Nicola Levesque. Caranci tallied the next goal for the Wolves on a pass from Cameron Dimmitt. The lone penalty of the period was charged to Chad Bennett for tripping. John Scully and Tyler Gjurich got the puck to Ryan Rotondi during the penalty kill for a short-handed goal. Frankie Hart got the Knights on the board in the final minute of the period with a power play goal assisted by Ethan Busch-Anderson and Yuki Sasaki.

Watertown's lead became shortened in the second period. John Scully first extended the lead for the Wolves with an assist from CJ Hayes. Lukas Sladkovsky struck back for the Knights with assists from Patrick Porkka and Frankie Hart. Anton Lennartsson responded with a laser from the blue line via John Scully. Patrick Porkka closed the gap for the Knights to a one-point game on assists Sladkovsky and Hart with his first goal, and Sladkovsky and Sasaki on his second.

Kyle Powell and Tyler Gjurich assisted Scully on his second goal of the night while killing Dallas Ingram's slashing penalty. Josh Newberg closed the gap on an assist from Lukas Sladkovsky during a power play from Anton Lennartsson's cross-checking penalty. The Wolves scored another short-handed goal during Justin Coachman's cross-checking penalty off the stick of Jesse Facchini from Anton Lennartsson and Dallas Ingram. Tyler Gjurich took advantage of Patrick Porkka's tripping penalty on a pass from Matt Caranci for Watertown's eighth goal. Gjurich capped off the night with his 50th goal of the season to end the game with a scored of 9-5, Watertown.

League-leading scorer Tyler Gjurich was honored with 1st Star of the Game for scoring his 50th goal of the season. John Scully's two goals and two assists were rewarded with the 2nd Star. Matt Caranci's three assists earned him the 3rd Star of the Game.

The Wolves are back in action at the Watertown Municipal Arena on Friday, March 23rd against the Northern Federals with a start time of 7:30 PM.

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