The Whitecourt Wolverines took to the road this weekend and came away with two wins in three games.
Friday night saw the Wolverines in Olds to face the Grizzlys and Whitecourt came away with a close 6-5 victory. Clay Spencer opened the scoring for Whitecourt at 4:58 of the first period with assists going to Kellan Cornelis and Mitch Owsley. Olds scored two goals to go up 2-1 before Whitecourt responded late in the first period with a power play goal by Ryan Berlin from Trace Elson and Clay Spencer. Whitecourt jumped out to a 3-2 lead at 2:06 of the second period when Joel Herbert scored from Evan Warmington. The Wolverines jumped out to a 4-2 lead when Ryan Berlin scored on the power play at 5:34 of the second period from Colten Mayor and Matthew Abt. Olds evened the score with two goals in the second period to knot the score at four heading to the third. Clay Spencer scored at 9:45 of the third period from Ryan Berlin and Matthew Abt before Olds tied the score once again on the power play at 12:12. Trace Elson scored the eventual game winner at 14:47 from Joel Herbert. Clay Spencer and Ryan Berlin each finished with three points for Whitecourt. Tanner Kovacs stopped 26 of 31 shots in goal for Whitecourt.
Whitecourt went into Calgary on Saturday night to face the Cancucks at the Max Bell Centre and fell 5-3. Calgary scored four unanswered goals before Whitecourt responded with a goal at 17:58 of the second period when Ryan Berlin scored from Ben Fonteyne and Jordan Davies. Whitecourt got the next goal when Mitch Owsley scored at 6:07 of the third period from Clay Spencer and Kellan Cornelis. Calgary scored on the power play at 9:11 to go up 5-2 before Colten Mayor scored at 17:51 from Tyson Helgesen and Kellan Cornelis making the score 5-3. The Wolverines couldn’t muster another goal and the score ended 5-3 in favour of Calgary. Trevor Martin stopped 12 of 16 shots in goal for Whitecourt before giving way to Tanner Kovacs who stopped 12 of 13.
The Wolverines put in a solid effort on Sunday against the Calgary Mustangs and came away with a 4-2 win to earn two of three victories on their southern road trip. Calgary jumped out to an early 2-0 lead before Joel Kocur scored on the power play at 15:14 of the first period from Matthew Abt and Trace Elson. Whitecourt evened the score a few seconds later when Joel Herbert scored at 15:51 with assists to Evan Warmington and Kellan Cornelis. Whitecourt jumped out to a 3-2 lead in the second when Ryan Berlin scored on the power play at 7:00 from Trace Elson and Clay Spencer. Joel Kocur got his second of the game at 9:08 of the third period to put the Wolverines out front 4-2. Trace Elson and Matthew Abt drew assists on the Kocur goal. Trevor Martin closed the door the rest of the way to preserve the 4-2 Whitecourt victory. Trace Elson finished the game with three points and currently leads the AJHL in scoring with 16 points in 7 games.
Next game action for Whitecourt comes at the AJHL Showcase in Spruce Grove with games Thursday vs. Canmore (3:30 pm) and Friday vs. Okotoks (3:30 pm) at the Tri-Leisure Centre.