Wolves Dominate Knights
By Jay Harris
Watertown, NY - It was Pink in the Rink Night at the Watertown Municipal Arena on Saturday night when the Watertown Wolves faced the North Shore Knights. The Wolves currently sit in 2nd place in the Federal Hockey League standings.
League-leading scorer Tyler Gjurich of the Wolves was the first to light up the lamp with assists from CJ Hayes and Captain John Scully. The Knights tied the game up with just four minutes left in the first period when Patrick Porkka tickled twine with help from Thomas McKinnon and Lukas Sladkovsky.
The Wolves proved relentless in the second period, scoring five unanswered goals. The second goal was déjà vu for the Wolves as Gjurich scored again on a play from Hayes and Scully. Josh Newberg got a timeout for hooking that set up Gavin Yates to score a power play goal on a pass from Kyle Powell. Yates' second goal happened less than a minute later with an assist from Anton Lennartsson. North Shore's Thomas McKinnon went to the box for a delay of game penalty, providing Troy Polino the opportunity to get a power play goal on assists from Gjurich and Scully. Seven seconds later, Matt Caranci got the puck to Chad Bennett for goal number six of the night. North Shore determined Adam Zeman had finally had enough and replaced him between the pipes with Rick Ordia. Despite getting a power play opportunity from Nicola Levesque's high stick penalty the Knights were unable to change the 6-1 score before the end of period.
North Shore struck first in the third period with a goal from Sladkovsky. Jaroslav Janeba's cross-checking penalty set up Nicola Levesque for a power play goal via Aleh Shypitsyn and Kyle Powell to bring the Wolves back up to five goal lead. Hayes would score the last goal of the night for the Wolves on a play from Scully and Justin Coachman to end the game with a score of 8-2 in favor of the Wolves.
Tyler Gjurich's two goals and assist earned him 1st Star of the Game. The two goals from Gavin Yates earned him the 2nd Star, and John Scully came away with the 3rd Star for his three assists.
The Wolves are back in action on Friday, March 16th in a rematch with the North Shore Knights at the Watertown Municipal Arena. Puck drop is 7:30 PM.
Photo credit: CMC Advertising Design & Photography