Wolves Playoff Hockey

By Derrick Lafrance

The Akwesasne Wolves Bantam B Rep. club reached the second round of the Upper Canada Minor league playoffs.

They took one on the chin in game one with a 4-1 loss to the Charlan Rebels, but they also had a big loss in game one of Round one against the South Stormont Lions and bounced back to win the series.

Ienni Thompson scored the lone Wolves goal vs Charlan on Saturday, February 29.

Charlan jumped to a 2-0 first period lead and the closest they came to making it 3-0 was early in the period. Charlan took a shot and Wolves goalie Avery Zenger gave up the rebound. Another Rebels player swatted it toward the open goal but Drey Thompson of Akwesasne cleared the puck just before it passed the goal line.

Zenger also saw some action as he was run into by Charlan's Jack Vandrish. Zenger was down momentarily but shook it off. Vandrish received two minutes for roughing and he would come back to score their second goal.

The visitors scored the only second period goal, but the Wolves had two big chances to tie. Damon Oakes was foiled on the breakaway and Carsten Mitchell was denied after he made a nice deke through the Rebels defenders and went one-on-one with goalie Lauren McCready, but she shut the door on Mitchell.

Thompson's third period goal came as he jumped on a rebound early in the period and backhanded it in past McCready.

The Rebels then scored an empty net goal late in the game for the win.

The playoff format is most goals in four games. Games two, three and four were played on consecutive nights earlier this week but all were after deadline.

In that Wolves vs. South Stormont previous series the Wolves dropped game one 6-2 on February 23 on Kawehnoke.

The Lions jumped out to a 2-0 first period lead but added four unanswered second period goals before Drey Thompson got the Wolves on the scoreboard in the final minute. Rylan Adams assisted.

In the third period Ienni Thompson scored their second goal unassisted but the six-goal South Stormont run was too much to rally from.

In game two played in Morrisburg, Ontario, Drey Thompson (2) and Trysen Sunday notched the Wolves goals in a 3-3 tie. This was a relatively calm game with 12 P.I.M.'s compared to 26 in the first match.

Drey Thompson, Waksi Rice, (2) Carter King and Ienni Thompson did Akwesasne's scoring in game three back on Kawehnoke in a 5-1 win.

The Wolves sealed it with a 5-3 win in the final fourth contest.

Kahontiio Lazore scored the first two goals as Ienni Thompson, Carsten Mitchell and Rice each chipped in one.

Sunday and Adams added assists.

The Wolves Atom "B" club also had a playoff tilt in the Lower St. Lawrence Minor league in Long Sault and they were on the right side of a 4-1 win.

Teiowisatenion Herne scored the first two in the win over the South Stormont Selects. In the first period he took a blast from near the blue line to make it 1-0 and eleven seconds into the middle frame he made it 2-0.

The home team came back to make it 2-1 but that was all they could manage as Akwesasne scored two more by Kayson Lazare and Wade Francis.

Lazare's goal came on the breakaway and the Francis goal was an empty net marker.