Wolves Come from Behind to Take Lead in Championship Series
By Jay Harris
Watertown, NY - After an exciting come-from-behind victory in Michigan to tie the best-of-five series, the Watertown Wolves looked to take the lead at Watertown Municipal Arena on Tuesday night. They accomplished just that with a 7-4 victory over the Port Huron Prowlers, and the opportunity to hoist the Commissioner's Cup on home ice on Wednesday night.
Jesse Facchini started the scoring for the Wolves early when he took a pass from Kyle Powell to the net just seventeen seconds into the period. Port Huron took some wind out of the Wolves' sails by scoring three consecutive goals, two of them just forty seconds apart. The Wolves bounced back with three goals of their own. Gavin Yates and Anton Lennartsson set Powell up to make a power play goal during Matt Graham's hooking penalty. Troy Polino scored the Wolves' third goal on a play from Facchini and Lennartsson. Yates brought the lead back to the Wolves with a pass from Tyler Gjurich to end the period with a 4-3 score.
Jesse Facchini's second goal of the night came during Josh Colten's tripping penalty at the aide of Troy Polino and Tyler Gjurich. It looked like the Wolves would keep the Prowlers scoreless in the second period until Dalton Jay netted a goal with just under two minutes left, resulting in a score of 5-4, Watertown at the end of the frame.
The Wolves continued their surge in the third period, scoring two additional goals. John Scully scored the sixth goal via Gavin Yates and Nicola Levesque. Scully then assisted with Aleh Shypitsyn to help Anton Lennartsson make the final goal of the evening making the score 7-4.
Jesse Facchini's two goals and assist earned him the 1st Star of the Game. The 2nd and 3rd Stars were credited to Anton Lennartsson and Gavin Yates, respectively.
The Wolves host the Prowlers again at Watertown Municipal Arena for Game 4 of the Commissioner's Cup Finals on Wednesday at 6:30 PM.
Photo credit: CMC Advertising Design & Photography