Jacks pick up first home win in 12-0 romp over Burford
Victory followed previous night’s loss to Paris, with Wellesley’s offense finally opening the floodgates again
THE JACKS PUT ON a show Saturday night, racking up their first win on home ice.
After a tough 5-3 loss Friday against Paris, the team persevered to an overwhelming 12-0 win over Burford the following night.
Heading into last Friday’s home game with a record of 4-5, Wellesley had secured all of its wins on the road. That streak continued when the Paris Mounties came calling, despite the Jacks having their opportunities to turn things around.
“I thought we played well enough to win again. We are getting our chances and just not scoring – it’s frustrating, but we got to stick with it,” said head coach Brad Gerber said afterwards. “Keep the game simple and getting pucks to the net.”
The loss was not a simple one Friday, with the bounces going in the Mounties’ favour.
Trent Lamarche opened up the night with a goal at 12:53, assisted by Nick Mercier and Reade MacInnis. It was the only scoring play of the first period.
“It felt good to get the first one, get the guys going. We haven’t got a lot of scoring, so it felt good to get that. I feel we just need to keep putting the puck in the net and we will win,” said Lamarche, who came away from the weekend with an additional three points.
“I thought he had a really good game. He was one of our better forwards,” said Gerber of the 18 yearold Waterloo native. “He is a young guy, but he is coming along and we are very pleased with his play.”
The second period saw Paris take a 2-1 on the strength of being the team to capitalize on some exciting back-and-forth play.
In the third, Alex Uttley scored shorthanded from Brady Gerber 9:12 in to tie up the game. Meanwhile, Noah Fisher spent two in the box for tripping and the Mounties answered back within 25 seconds to pull forward again on the power play.
The final goal of the night for the Jacks came at full strength from Wellesley’s Pickering, from Uttley and Schouppe at 11:19.
Before the scorer headed to the box for a debatable goalie interference call, the Mounties scored with the extra skater. The visitors finished the night with an empty-net goal to make it a 5-3 final.
“We played well, but the bounces aren’t going our way right now. We are on a bit of a losing streak, but like the coaches are saying we are going to turn it around eventually. Once you play hard consistently, then the bounces start going your way and you start to get some wins,” said Pickering after the game.
Although the loss was the Jacks’ third straight on home ice, Gerber says the season is still young.
“The thing right now is the season is early, we gotta stay positive, we gotta keep moving forward. It is not like we aren’t working hard and it’s not like we aren’t getting our chances,” he said. “If we just stay focused and keep our heads up, good things are going to happen eventually – it’s a long season.”
Heading into the Saturday night game the head coach explained their goals were simple: “Get pucks to the net, score some goals, keep working hard, keep the game simple – just stay with the basics and good things will happen.”
And that was in fact the case, as the Jacks put 63 shots on net, 25 of those within the first period, yielding a 12-0 win over Burford.
“It was a good first win at home. We have been playing hard just haven’t got the results yet and it finally paid off there Saturday night,” said Brock Gerber, assistant coach and general manager of the team. “The previous two weekends, I thought we outplayed most of our opponents, but we just couldn’t find the back of the net, and I guess Saturday night everything was kind of working out for us.”
Pickering scored Wellesley’s first goal of what would be a six goal period for the home team from Lamarche and Uttley at just 3:48. He popped off another, again from Uttley and Lamarche at 6:39.
Uttley scored a goal on the power play from Pickering and call up Martin Kelbe as Burford’s Pius Gristy sat in the box for goalie interference.
Wellesley’s Reade MacInnis scored unassisted at 10:51, and shortly after, Pickering got his third of the game from Uttley and Mercier.
Uttley then got his second of the game from Pickering, Lamarche to finish off scoring in the first.
Brady Gerber from Mercier, Seasmus Mooney got his first of the game at 5 min into the second, followed by a goal from Restoule, Schlupp at 10:08 and another by the lefty forward unassisted at 12:54.
Alex Uttley finished off the period with his third of the game, the second hat trick from the roster, from MacInnis, Pickering with under a minute left before the half.
Liam Hartman started the third from Gerber, MacInnis at just a minute in and Kyle Soper, (Shaun Pickering, Alex Uttley) got his first, and what would be the teams 12th and final goal of the game at 5:58.
Porter held off the team for the remainder of the game to secure his second shutout of the season.
The antagonized Bulldogs finished the game with 70 minutes on 19 infractions, which including three abuse of an official calls and a total of four game misconducts.
This weekend, the Jacks (5-6) welcome the Delhi Travellers (0-12) on Friday night – the team looking for a repeat of the 12-0 win in the second match of the season – and then the New Hamburg Firebirds (4-5-12) on Saturday. Game time both nights is 7:30 p.m.