While the Hazelton Wolverines didn’t come away with the win against the division leading Prince Rupert Rampage on Saturday, head coach Fred Hudson said it was the best game of the year for the team.
“I think it was our best game of the season despite the score,” he said. “I was happy with the game, mind you in the second we lost our way and from a crowd point I think it was a really good game.”
While the Wolverines fell 9-5 to the Rampage in the first game of the playoffs, spectators agreed with Hudson in the fact it was a solid game despite the second period.
Things started off 12 seconds in with Rupert picking up the first goal but Hazelton answered back in two minutes to tie it up when Lou Parent Jr. cashed in on a feed from Brad Sebastian.
Minutes later Hazelton took the lead when Phil Morrison hammered one in off a set up from Travis Beebee but Rupert came back to tie it to end the first at two a piece.
The second period saw the Wolverines fall apart and the Rampage scored six unanswered goals before Beebee drilled one in off a play from Ryan Muldoe and Parent with two minutes left. The third was end-to-end action and Hazelton held Rupert to one goal. Mitch Marshall tried to rally his team back when he fired one in to the twine off Muldoe and Keegan Jack and minutes later Al Tolmie shortened the gap off a pass from Parent. However, time ran out and they finished down by four.
Hudson said it’s unfortunate that the season is so short in the CIHL as he felt the team was finally coming together.
“They don’t realize how much they have improved and all their hard work is paying off but the season is too short,” he explained. “Even minor hockey has almost 40 games and we have only 16 and then the playoffs.”
He continued to add that it was a great team effort with a few players really standing out too.
“Lou’s line played really well and I thought Ryan Muldoe had a really strong game and was great on the power play,” Hudson said. “The defence played really well, Cody played really well, Al had a great game and so did Mitch. It was nice to see the guys battle back and take the lead and then they come back and tied it up again. We are just finally getting there but that’s okay, you learn.”
The Wolverines travel to Rupert for a double header and are still hopeful they can put together at least one win if not two.
“Rupert is a good team but they are not unbeatable and I think if we played 60 solid minutes we could beat them,” Hudson said. “If we can win the first one, we might have the momentum to shut them down as long as the guys have enough legs.”
At the very least, Hazelton will be making the trip with a decent size bench with all the players from the weekend committing to make the trip.
If the Wolverines can win both games in Rupert they would advance to the next round of the playoffs where they would take on the winner of the Terrace River Kings and Kitimat Ice Demons playoff games.
As for the future of the Wolverines, Hudson said he hopes to be back on the bench next year and feels the team is still on it’s way to being a competitive senior men’s hockey team and added he has learned from this year’s mistakes.
