Weekend Recap:
The Whitecourt Wolverines seen action Saturday night in Brooks and Sunday in Okotoks to cap off the final regular season trip down south this season.
Saturday January 25th:
Whitecourt visited the Brooks Bandits for the second and final time this season in front of 1650 fans at the Centennial Regional Arena.
Despite being outshot 46-25 the Wolverines held their own versus the defending RBC Cup Champions, The Bandits Power Play which is 3rd overall in the AJHL was too much for the Wolverines as Brooks went 2 for 5 and saw both goals scored by Dylan Plitt.
The Wolverines only goal would come from Captain Colten Mayor on his 25th of the season which would tie the game at 1 half way through the second. That would only last for 7 minutes as Mark Logan would make it 2-1 for the Bandits. The Bandits would see that goal from Plitt to go on to a 3-1 victory.
Mac Engle would be absolutely stellar for the Wolverines stopping 43 of 46 shots.
Not in the lineup for Whitecourt: Zach Paterson, Brandon Switzer, Brodyn Nielsen & Mitch Deacon.
Three Stars of the game:
1) Mac Engle – WCT (43 Saves)
2) Dylan Plitt – BRO (2G)
3) Colten Mayor – WCT (1G)
Sunday January 26th
The final game of the weekend had the Wolverines visit the Okotoks Oilers for the third time this season.
The game would see no scoring in the first period despite the Oilers having a 5 on 3 PowerPlay for 2 minutes, But Riley Corbin would stand his ground, Corbin making only his fourth start of the season was showing no signs of rust in this one as he stopped 15 shots alone in the first period.
The second period would show a little more excitement as James Vermeulen would open the scoring on a point shot for his first of the season, The lead however would be short lived as just over a minute later a Derek Thorogood would put one behind Corbin via a high stick however the play would be reviewed but it would be determined a good goal.
The Oilers were not done there as they would get another marker from Tariq Hammond which would make it 3 goals scored in a little over 2 minutes. The Oilers would take their only lead of the game into the 3rd period.
Associate Coach Darcy Charrois who was behind the bench for the third straight game seemed to put a fire under the Red and White as the Wolverines would come flying out of the gate just :29 seconds in as a shot from Matthew Abt would beat Jared D’Amico for his 6th of the season.
Both teams would continue to battle hard throughout the period however it was Colten Mayor who put the Wolverines on top for good at the 18:28 mark of the final frame with his 26th goal and 60th point of the season. Ryan Berlin would seal the deal with an empty net goal and his 21st of the season to move the Wolverines to 22-26-2 and just 4 points back of the Crusaders for 4th place in the very tight North Division.
Riley Corbin had his best start of the season stopping 39 of 41 shots, Corbin is now 2-2 on the season with a 3.21 GAA and .902 Save Percentage.
Not in the lineup for Whitecourt : Jordan Davies, Brandon Switzer, Mitch Deacon and Brodyn Nielsen were serving there third of three game suspensions.
Three Stars of the game:
1) Riley Corbin (39 Saves)
2) Ryan Berlin (1G, 2A)
3) Sam Lawson (2A)
The Wolverines return home Friday January 31st in a tilt with the Drayton Valley Thunder.
Devin Rideout
Director of Media Operations.