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Wolf Pack win big in Whistler

5-2 win over Port Moody
1602hockey
The Other Junior Game Roberto Yslas charges the net in the third period of Friday’s matchup between the Squamish Wolf Pack and Port Moody Black Panthers at Meadow Park Arena. The Wolf Pack and Yslas won the game 5-2. photo by Joern Rohde, www.wpnn.org

Whistler’s Jesse Clemiss had the final word in front of a hometown crowd on Jan. 2, an empty net goal in the last minute against the Port Moody Black Panthers that put the Squamish Wolf Pack up 5-2.

Fans got all of their $8 worth, with 90 shots, solid goaltending on both sides of the rink, dozens of solid bodychecks — mostly at the Wolf Pack’s expense — an obligatory fight in the closing minutes, two short-handed goals and a come-from-behind win.

The teams were evenly matched in the first period, with Port Moody outshooting the Wolf Pack 16-13. Wolf Pack goalie Graham Hallenbeck was solid, and shut the door on a breakaway and a two-on-one opportunity early in the game.

The Wolf Pack got on the board first 8:41 into the second period, with Ross Pattison stealing the puck and Trevor Beaupre taking the pass and cutting in front of the net to score the first goal of the game short-handed.

Port Moody answered back about seven minutes later at even strength, tying the game heading into the third period.

Port Moody scored on an innocent looking short-handed play just 33 seconds into the third period to take the lead, scoring through a screen of players. Hallenbeck took it personally, and stopped the next 20 or so shots include some good scoring opportunities and second chances off of rebounds.

Squamish kept up the pressure, and it paid off about nine minutes later as Ross Pattison scored the equalizer on a slapshot from the faceoff circle to make the game 2-2. That’s when Squamish took over, stealing pucks on the forecheck, and peppering Port Moody goalie Nick Enegren with shots.

In the final 10 minutes the Wolf Pack scored three more times, with goals from Nils Hanfstingl and Tadz Brown, and the empty-netter from Clemiss.

Coach Matt Samson credited goalie Hallenbeck for keeping the game close early, and the persistence of his team in the second and third periods. The team has been averaging just over 30 shots per game and allowing as many as 60, but outshot Port Moody 49 to 41.

“There was a time when this team would get down when they were behind and say ‘oh no, we’re not going to be able to come back,’ but I wanted to keep the positive momentum going after that goal so early in the third,” said Samson. “I told them that there was a whole period left, and we were going to tie it and keep going from there.”

As well as solid goaltending, fitness also made a difference in the third period. Since the start of the season Samson has been holding more practices than other teams.

“If the other guys practice twice a week, we go four times,” he said. “In the third we sort of took over, you could really see the difference on the ice.”

It also helped that Port Moody spend a lot more time killing penalties, with seven penalties compared to three for the Wolf Pack.

“That’s going to wear a team because they have to shorten the bench,” said Samson. “Basically we have five guys who kill penalties and if they’re out there all game they’re going to get tired, and when you get tired the other team can capitalize. Early in the season we were the team that would take a lot of stupid penalties and pay the price for it, but the guys played a disciplined game tonight and held (Port Moody) to just a few powerplays. We did get that shorthanded goal and a powerplay goal, but we were pretty good on five-on-five all night.”

Coming into the New Year, Samson’s goal was to increase the number of shots on net and he was happy with the shot production. He also wanted to limit the shots by the other team, and in that respect giving up 41 shots to Port Moody was an improvement.

“In the first period we gave up 16 shots, but a lot of them were on second chances and they weren’t really good quality shots. In the second we gave up 10 or 11 shots, but at least five were golden opportunities,” he said. “In the first period the number was too high, in the second period the quality was too high. In the third I thought we did a good job on both ends of the ice.”

The Wolf Pack are currently last in the Tom Shaw Conference, eight points back of the fourth place Delta Ice Hawks. To qualify for the playoffs they’ll need to move up one spot.

The Wolf Pack could have drawn within six of Delta, but Delta has won their past two games to build their lead in the division.

Samson recently took the issue of parity up with the PIJHL’s board of governors, pointing to the imbalance in the league — the Richmond Sockeyes have just four losses in 32 games — as well as an imbalance in the playoff selection. Samson would like to see all 10 teams in both PIJHL conferences ranked against each other, and then have the top eight go to the playoffs.

“It’s tough the way the conferences are broken up,” he said. “We’re 10 and three against (Harold Brittain Conference) teams and could be in second place very, very easily. Still, our goal is to be in the playoffs in the final stretch and then build on that next season. Some of the older guys may be moving on after next season, and for guys like Graham it would be nice to get him a provincial championship. If we keep playing like this, we’re not moving anybody.”

The Wolf Pack’s next game is a home matchup against the Ridge Meadows Flames this Saturday at Brennan Park Arena, with the puck dropping at 7:15 p.m. They also have a make-up game to reschedule against the North Delta Devils, after the last game on Jan. 3 was pre-empted by a blizzard.