Weekend Preview: Wolves vs. Hat Tricks

By Jeff Barrett

The second week of the new year finds the Wolves heading east to battle divisional foe Danbury Hat Tricks for two games in the Danbury Ice Arena. The teams have met seven times already in the '25-'26 season, with the Hat Tricks holding a slight edge in wins, 4-3.

For the Hat Tricks entering the weekend, it will be all eyes on their veteran captain Jonny Ruiz as he sits just one goal shy of 200 career goals. Ruiz has appeared in 289 regular season FPHL games with all but 19 of those games as part of the Hat Tricks. 

The Wolves recently traded Domenic Della Civita, who had been listed as "failed to report", to the Pee Dee Ice Cats in exchange for Konstantin Chernyuk, a 6"-5", 211 pound defenseman from

St. Petersburg, Russia,  who has 2 goals and 12 assists so far this season in FPHL action. The Wolves hope to have him signed and ready to go this weekend, as he would add another big body on the back line. 

The Wolves also hope  to add a healthy Steven Klinck back to the lineup, after missing this past weekends two games with a minor injury. 

Watertown trails the Hat Tricks by 2 points in the battle for the fifth spot in the Empire division, and could leapfrog Danbury with a couple regulation wins. 

You can catch all the action Friday at 7:30 and again Saturday at 7:00 on the Danbury Hat Tricks Youtube channel.