Jacks hang on after strong start to beat Woodstock
Taking a six-goal lead into the third period, Wellesley weathers the storm for 8-7 victory on home ice
THE SNOW SQUALLS THAT postponed the Applejacks’ first game of the weekend on Friday did nothing to cool down a second heated game the following night at the Wellesley arena.
With Friday’s away game against the Delhi Travellers on ice, the Applejacks played on Saturday with the full force of winter storm against the Woodstock Navy Vets, decimating their opponents in the first 40 minutes of play, but losing momentum in the final 20 to ultimately win the game by a narrow 8-7 margin.
“For two periods, or for 40 minutes, we played a perfect hockey game,” said head coach Brad Gerber of Saturday’s game.
The night certainly started strong for the Jacks, with the first goal of the match coming in less than three minutes into the game. Ryan Sparkes drew first blood, with Shaun Pickering picking up the assist.
Wellesley newcomer Mackenzie Aiken (Sparkes, Nathan Schlupp) put a second one on the board at 9:14, followed by a shorty from Nathan Smith (Brady Gerber) at 18:00.
The Jacks were already up 3-0 when the players headed off to intermission. Wellesley had racked up a few penalties, including a kneeing infraction, but was otherwise mostly staying out of the box. But from there, the game got a lot more scrappy on both sides.
A scuffle broke out before the puck had even dropped in the second frame, getting Woodstock slapped with a host of penalties for instigating. Right out of the gate, Wellesley had the advantage, which they used for two powerplay markers.
Just 45 seconds in, Pick- ering (Nick Mercier, Alex Uttley) scored on the power play. Five minutes later, Aiken (Zach Ribeiro, Sparkes) came in for his second of the match, putting the team up 5-0 before Woodstock had a chance to respond.
Now it was Wellesley’s turn to lose a player to the box, giving Woodstock the opportunity for a power play marker of their own at 7:18.
Wellesley responded with two more goals with the man advantage, picked up by Reade MacInnis (Kyle Soper, Uttley) and a second by Smith (Uttley). The scoreboard was now sitting at 7-1.
Woodstock again hit back with their second goal of the match at 13:06. But five minutes later, Tomas Azzano put another Wellesley puck into the net, with Trent Dundas and netminder Ryan Hergott lending assists. The score, after that dizzying volley of shots, was 8-2 for the Applejacks.
“We’re playing the game the right way – we’re outworking them, everything’s going our way, our power play was clicking – and at the end of the second period we had the 8-2 lead,” said Gerber. “But the third period there, well, we just kind of fell apart.”
It might have seemed a lock for the Jacks as they entered the final 20 minutes of play, but as has been the case in the past, the team suffered a severe drop in performance in the third. Looking at their two previous games against the Navy Vets, in both cases the Applejacks were tied or in the lead for the first two periods of the games before giving up three and four goals to the Navy Vets in the third.
The Jacks lost a handful
of players to the box at Saturday’s game in those final 20 minutes to the likes of trashtalking infractions and spearing, and it nearly cost them the game. The Navy Vets rolled over the home team in that last period, scoring three power play goals and two additional ones in the final 12 minutes.
The Applejacks were lucky there were just 20 minutes to go, as the game went from an 8-2 landslide at the start of the period, to an 8-7 one-point game by the end.
“I guess we need to learn to play with the lead, but the biggest thing is we need to stay disciplined. And we just, for some reason, self-destructed, and got frustrated with the reffing; we got frustrated with how the other team was playing,” said Gerber.
“But we took very foolish penalties, like selfish penalties. And it’s something we’re going to have to address before playoffs, because going into playoffs you can’t play like that and expect to win hockey games.”
With four games left in the regular season (plus the postponed Delhi game, which has yet to be scheduled), and the playoffs set to begin in February, the Applejacks are hoping to make some final improvements to their game.
“We feel when we play the game, we’re playing really well. We’re really happy with the way we’re playing. Just a little disappointed with our discipline against Wood- stock, that’s for sure, but it’s something we’ll address and we’ll take care of,” said Gerber.
“But besides that, we’re excited about the rest of the games and then the playoffs, obviously. We’re looking forward to getting the playoffs going.”
Up this weekend, the Applejacks will be heading to Norwich Friday to play against the Merchants before returning home the following night to face the New Hamburg Firebirds. The week after, Wellesley is up against Ayr and Tavistock, the first- and second-place teams in the division, respectively.
The Jacks (20-13-1-1) are currently at fifth place, just a few paces behind the fourthplace Paris Mounties (22-11-0-1).