Wolverines hockey players faced the North Coast Collision on Jan. 27 at The Pond in their final regular season game before playoffs begin.
Game photos click here.
Wolverines hockey players faced the North Coast Collision on Jan. 27 at The Pond in their final regular season game before playoffs begin.
The first two periods of the contest were relatively close as the Wolverines led 4-2 after two periods.
However, West Geauga pulled away in the third period, scoring five unanswered goals to defeat the Collision, 9-2.
In the post-game interview, Head Coach Travis Wright said it was an exciting night for his team since it was Senior Night and players had lots of energy.
The result was an intense start.
“We had a good first period,” Wright said. “Struggled a bit in the second period, and then came back really strong in the third period.
“It was a good game, good finish.”
As Coach Wright mentioned, the Wolverines started the game strong, scoring two first-period goals.
Scoring first with 5:42 left in the first period was West G’s Landon Wosnak.
Less than a minute later, the Wolverines made it 2-0 when team captain Zach Phillips scored with 4:46 left in the first period.
His first goal of the game came after Wosnak shot on goal and the puck deflected off the goalie, Phillips said.
“Got the rebound and got a perfect backdoor shot, just clean,” he said. “(The second goal) really got us all hyped up, (as) we really started the game off strong.”
After intermission, Phillips and the Wolverines carried that momentum. Phillips scored again just 35 seconds into the second period when he found the top corner of the goal and gave the Wolverines a 3-0 lead.
Then, with 10:47 left in the second period, West G’s Jason Adams scored his team’s fourth goal of the game to answer a Collision goal scored only about a minute before.
Although the game was close entering the third period, the Wolverines scored five unanswered goals in the first six minutes of the period to make the final score 9-2.
For the game, goalie Ian Pack had an excellent game in goal with 39 saves, a 95 percent save percentage.
The Wolverines also demonstrated an excellent level of cohesiveness through their 14 assists.
Pack credited this cohesiveness, shown throughout the year, as a significant reason for their growing success.
“(This game) really shows how much we have grown since the beginning of the season,” Pack said. “The first time we played this team, we lost 9-3. This game, we won 9-2.
“It’s huge to have a game like this just to secure our spot in the playoffs. We’ve grown tremendously as a team. Last season, we were not always the best teammates to each other, but this season its been a completely different turnaround and it’s way nicer.”
The Wolverines expect to have a first round playoff game against Harbor Creek, date and time to be determined.
