Camrose, AB – The Whitecourt Wolverines (5-2-1) got back into the win column in a big way on Friday night beating the Camrose Kodiaks (2-2-2) 10-4 at the EnCana Arena.
Despite the lopsided victory, the Wolverines found themselves trailing the game after twenty minutes of play. After Jaedon Leslie jammed home a loose puck in front of the Kodiak net near the halfway point of the first period to give the Wolverines the lead, Camrose answered back with a pair of late goals from Matt Dykstra and McKenzie Welke.
The Wolverines got the game back on even terms 7:35 into the second period as Spencer Bast, playing in his first game as a Wolverine, took a centering pass from Cody Laskosky and fired it home. Less than a minute later, the Wolverines had their lead back after Liam Motley set Leslie up for his second of the night on a two-on-nothing rush. At the 12:26 mark, the Wolverines increased their lead to two as Motley and Leslie threw body checks on the forecheck creating a loose puck that Motley centred to Tyr Thompson who one-timed home his first goal of the season. The Kodiaks answered to get back to within a goal as Colson Gengenbach took advantage of a Wolverine turnover, but after that, it was all Wolverines as they scored four times in the final 5:28 of the period. First, Leslie completed his hat-trick with a power play marker, then Stevie Bryant converted a beautiful passing play between himself and Cody Laskosky. Alessio Luciani made it a 7-3 lead on a great individual effort, toe-dragging a defender and sliding the puck home on his backhand. Just before the period was out, Motley converted on a setup from Leslie to make the lead 8-3 heading into the third period.
Just under two minutes into the final period, Noah Tooke got on the scoresheet with a power play goal and then at the 13:26 mark, Laskosky got the Wolverines to double digits making it 10-3. With just nine seconds left in the game the Kodiaks got a goal from Jacob Kendall but it would not nearly be enough.
The Wolverines return to action Saturday afternoon at 4:30 p.m. when they play their final game at the 2017 AJHL Showcase in Camrose against the Calgary Canucks (2-4-0) at the Max McLean Arena.
Notes: Wolverines forward Jaedon Leslie recorded his first career AJHL hat-trick in what was his 100th career game……Tonight's game marked Wolverines head coach Gord Thibodeau's 1400th regular season game behind an AJHL bench recording his 844th win…The line of Leslie, Liam Motley and Tyr Thompson combined for 5 goals and 6 assists…The Wolverines ended an 0/16 power play drought going 3/3 with the man advantage…The 7 goals in the second period tied a franchise record for goals in a single period for the Wolverines (October 27th, 2012 vs Lloydminster)…The Wolverines have now won five straight games against the Kodiaks…The Wolverines are 6-5-0 all-time at the AJHL Showcase…The AJHL league schedule dates back to the 2005/2006 season and in no games in that time had the Kodiaks allowed 10 goals in a game until tonight.
Scoring Summary
1st Period:
WCT Goal – 11:05 – Jaedon Leslie(3) from Tanner Foster and Liam Motley (EV)
CAM Goal – 17:33 – Matt Dykstra(2) from Jacob Kendall and Cale Chalifoux (PP)
CAM Goal – 17:59 – McKenzie Welke(2) from Colby Wolter (EV)
2nd Period:
WCT Goal – 7:35 – Spencer Bast(1) from Cody Laskosky and Stevie Bryant (EV)
WCT Goal – 8:13 – Jaedon Leslie(4) from Liam Motley (EV)
WCT Goal – 12:26 – Tyr Thompson(1) from Jaedon Leslie and Liam Motley (EV)
CAM Goal – 12:33 – Colson Gengenbach(1) from Carson Welke (EV)
WCT Goal – 14:32 – Jaedon Leslie(5) from Alessio Luciani and Tyr Thompson (PP)
WCT Goal – 14:54 – Stevie Bryant(1) from Cody Laskosky and Beaudon Rider (EV)
WCT Goal – 16:04 – Alessio Luciani(2) from Ryan Grant (EV)
WCT Goal – 19:33 – Liam Motley(4) from Jaedon Leslie and Jesse Pomeroy (PP)
WCT
3rd Period:
WCT Goal – 1:40 – Noah Tooke(4) from Cody Laskosky and Stevie Bryant (PP)
WCT Goal – 13:26 – Cody Laskosky(3) unassisted (EV)
CAM Goal – 19:51 – Jacob Kendall(4) from Brock Bremer and Ryan Hartman (EV)
Shots – WCT 50 (12-20-18) CAM 29 (8-11-10)
Power plays – WCT 3/3 CAM 1/3
Goalies:
WCT – Tye Morin 25sv/29sh (2-0-0)
CAM – Griffin Bowerman 20sv/26sh 34:54 (1-1-1), Landon Pavlisin 20sv/24sh 25:06 (1-1-1)
Three Star Selection:
1. WCT-Jaedon Leslie (3g, 2a)
2. WCT-Cody Laskosky (1g, 3a)
3. WCT-Liam Motley (1g, 3a)
Hardest Working Wolverines: Alessio Luciani (1g, 1a)
Recap presented by:
