Photo Credit: Melissa Baker Photography
Whitecourt, AB – The Whitecourt Wolverines blanked the Lloydminster Bobcats 4-0 on Friday night to take a 2-0 series lead in their best-of-five North Division Quarterfinal Series.
The Wolverines got off to a quick start as just over 90 seconds into the game Estian Coetzee finished off a tic-tac-toe passing play from Tyr Thompson and Liam Motley by shoveling a backhand past Bobcat goalie Bailey Brkin on an early power play. The Bobcats nearly equalized a short-time later as Kobe Walker was set up perfectly on a backdoor play but Wolverine's goalie Xavier Potvin got across to make the desperation save. Ben Evanish would increase the Wolverines lead with under four minutes to play in the period after Spencer Bast stole a clearing attempt, allowing Evanish to walk-in from the left-circle a fire home a short-side shot top-shelf.
The Wolverines made it a 3-0 lead five and a half minutes into the second period as Chase Haygarth peeled back an offensive zone faceoff to Jake Hobson who let go a point shot that was tipped in by Jude Butler. The Wolverines took their three-goal advantage to the third period after holding the Bobcats to just 11 shots on goal through the opening forty minutes.
Tanner Foster capped the scoring for the Wolverines in the opening two minutes of the third period as he one-timed home a pass from Liam Motley.
The Wolverines and Bobcats meet again Sunday night at 7:30 p.m. as the series shifts to Lloydminster.
Scoring Summary
1st Period:
WCT Goal – 1:37 – Estian Coetzee(2) from Tyr Thompson and Liam Motley (PP)
WCT Goal – 16:09 – Ben Evanish(1) from Spencer Bast (EV)
2nd Period:
WCT Goal – 5:31 – Jude Butler(1) from Jake Hobson and Chase Haygarth (EV)
3rd Period:
WCT – 1:43 – Tanner Foster(1) from Liam Motley and Estian Coetzee (PP)
Shots – WCT 34 (14-11-9) LLYD 20 (6-5-9)
Power plays – WCT 2/7 LLYD 0/4
Goalies:
WCT – Xavier Potvin (2-0) 20sv/20sh
LLYD – Bailey Brkin (0-2) 26sv/30sh (49:54), Pierce Diamond (0-0) 4sv/4sh (10:06)
Three Star Selection:
1. WCT-Estian Coetzee
2. WCT-Xavier Potvin
3. WCT-Jude Butler
Hardest Working Wolverine: Matthew Monk
Recap presented by:
