Wolves Look to Tame the Bobcats in First-Ever Watertown Visit

WATERTOWN, N.Y. — The Watertown Wolves get a fresh start and a first-ever visitor this weekend as the Blue Ridge Bobcats come to town for the first time in franchise history. The two teams meet Friday, Oct. 23 and Saturday, Oct. 24, with puck drop at 7:05 p.m. both nights at the Northern Credit Union Community Arena.

The Bobcats arrive unbeaten. Blue Ridge swept the Columbus River Dragons at home to open the season — 5-3 on Friday and 3-2 on Saturday's "Pink in the Rink" night in front of 1,610 fans — and both wins were comebacks. Saturday night's win had a record-setting finish: rookie Nikolai Dulak scored the shorthanded game-winner on a breakaway at 3:26 of the third, then Patriks Marcinkevics added another shorthanded goal just 14 seconds later, the fastest pair of shorthanded goals in franchise history. Vladislav Vlasov tied that game on a second-period power play, and goaltender Max Macchioni made 32 saves. Marcinkevics has 3 goals and 3 assists through two games, and captain Carson Andreoli anchors the blue line for coach Vojtech Zemlicka's squad in its fourth season.

For the Wolves, the opening weekend didn't bring results, but it showed fight. Watertown sits 0-2-1 after dropping a 5-2 decision at Binghamton and a pair of heartbreakers to Danbury at home — 9-5 in a wild home opener, then 5-4 in overtime Saturday night, where the Wolves led 4-2 after two before Eli Rivers' hat trick forced the extra frame. Bret Parker has three goals in three games, Brendan Hussey buried two Saturday night, Hunter Hall has been productive on the power play, and Donovan Powell has 2 goals and 4 assists. The man advantage clicked twice Saturday and will need to keep humming against a Blue Ridge penalty kill that gave up very little on opening weekend.

A couple of storylines to watch: goaltender Anthony Shrum will face his former club after recently leaving Blue Ridge, and Taylor Cutting is back in the lineup after serving his one-game league suspension. The Wolves' first win is still on the table — and there's no better stage than a weekend series against a team that's never played in Watertown before.

Tickets are available online for Friday's and Saturday's games at Clubhouse Cards.  Purchase your tickets today!