Second Period Surge Helps Wolves to Victory Over Nationals
By Jay Harris
The Watertown Wolves took on the Cornwall Nationals at the Watertown Municipal Arena Saturday night. Noticeably missing from the Wolves' bench was league-leading scorer Mark Petaccio who was loaned to Evansville in the SPHL. Their bench also saw the addition of Kyllian Kirkwood. The Wolves looked to have a repeat of last Friday's victory against the Cornwall, Ontario team to move up the Federal Hockey League Standings.
The teams would spend the first period easing into the game, once again getting a feel for the other team's new lines as players from each team have been added and removed from their respective rosters. Joel Trottier would receive the two penalties served to Cornwall and the lone Watertown penalty was served by Joe Cangelosi. Neither team was able to capitalize on the extra man advantage, and the first period would end scoreless.
Ryan Connolly made the first goal of the night for Watertown on assists from Jason Dolgy and Brett Liscomb just thirty seconds into the second period on a power play goal from Joel Trottier's first-period penalty. The Wolves had another power play when Chris Cloutier was boxed for interference four minutes into the period. The Conolly-Dolgy-Liscomb trio was successful in scoring again with Jason Dolgy earning a power play goal at the five-minute mark. Watertown's Jesse Facchini was called on a slashing charge to give Cornwall a power play. Storm Adams scored the lone goal for the Nationals on the power play. Brad Townsend and Chris Cloutier mixed it up and each received five for fighting. Colin McIntosh extended the Wolves lead to 3-1 on a pass from Zach Dymock. Goal Tender Ed Zdolshek came out of the game just shy of the 15-minute mark in the second period for a minor injury. Danilla Allistratov was ready to defend the net for the Wolves and kept the Nationals from scoring the rest of the night. The Wolves scored one final goal in the period when Zach Dymock tickled twine with assists from Jesse Facchini and Ryan Whittel.
Watertown's 4-1 lead quickly became a 5-1 lead in the third period when Colin McIntosh got his second goal of the night with an assist from Dallas Ingram. The Wolves held that score for the remainder of the game.
Head Coach Phil Esposito described his team's concentration was on their preparations for playing three games in the three nights, as this is an area that has challenged them in the past. He was happy with the team's ability to build a strong lead in the second and maintain that lead through the rest of the game.
Colin McIntosh received the first star of the game. Jason Dolgy and Joe Cangelosi would be honored with the second and third stars respectively. The Watertown Wolves moved up to third place in the Federal Hockey League standings.
The Wolves will be back in action at the Watertown Municipal Arena on Monday, February 20th when they face the Berlin River Drivers. The game will start at 6:00 pm. The Wolves will be holding a two adult tickets for $20.00 special that evening.