Wolves Drop back-to-back to Dashers
By Jay Harris
Watertown, NY - The Watertown Wolves host the Danville Dashers at the Watertown Municipal Ice Arena in a rematch of last night's game.
The first period saw a lot of strong defense and alert net-minding. The period looked as if it would end in a scoreless tie until Danville's Daniel Turgeon scored an unassisted goal with just ten seconds remaining in the period.
It looked like the Wolves would tie the game up at the beginning of the second period. The officials called it a no-goal stating the puck was batted in with a player's glove. Tension between the teams started to mount after Danville goalie Storm Phaneuf earned a two-minute penalty for tripping. The Wolves would be the first to score that period with a goal from Austin Daae assisted by Jeremy Akeson and Matt Caranci. After penalties served by Mark Petaccio for tripping and Gerhett Sargis for slashing it was the Dashers to score next when Darius Cole and Easton Oliver set up Eric Witzel for a top shelf goal. Justin Levac would add to the lead on a pass from Daniel Turgeon to make the score 3-1. Matt Caranci would leave the game after taking a puck to the face. Animosity began to boil over in the last minute of the perod with Watertown's Brad Townsend and Danville's Aleh Shypitsyn earning five minutes for fighting and Danville's Storm Phaneuf earning two minutes for unsportsmanlike conduct.
The Wolves looked to mount a comeback in the third period when they received a power play advantage on Darius Cole's crosscheck penalty. The Dashers had other plans however when Anton Lennartsson scored a short-handed goal advancing their lead to 4-1. Watertown coach Phil Esposito decided a switch in net minder was needed and replace Denis Tsaruk with Ed Zdolshek. The Wolves received another opportunity when M J Maerkl received two minutes in the box for crosschecking. Brian Marks and Colin McIntosh provided Jeremy Akeson with the shot to put another goal on the board for the Wolves. Danville added one final goal on an empty net from Justin Brausen. The Dashers bested the Wolves with a final score of 5-2.
The three stars of the game were Danville's Daniel Turgeon, Justin Brausen, and Watertown's Jeremy Akeson. The Wolves are back in action on Sunday, December 11 at 5:00 pm against the Saint Claire Shores Fighting Saints in the Watertown Municipal Ice Arena.