The Williams Lake Atom Development Timberwolves started their season on the right foot during the weekend going unbeaten at the North Central District Icebreaker Tournament in 100 Mile House.
Timberwolves coach Graham Fulton said team play and hard work have been the focus early on in the season, and it showed throughout the tournament as just about all of the team helped chip in on the score sheet.
Williams Lake joined Quesnel and 100 Mile clubs at the tournament — teams that will make up the North Central District league for the season.
After finishing with three wins and no losses in the round robin the Timberwolves squared off with Quesnel in the championship.
“We’d beaten them 8-1 the first time we saw them, and then we won 7-3 in the final,” Fulton said. “They came back a lot harder. I think we maybe surprised them a bit in that first game, but it was a close battle for half the game and then we kind of pulled away a bit.”
Fulton said the team consists of 11 second-year atom players, six first-year players and four returning players from last year’s atom development team. Goaltenders for the squad are Cole Chapman and Liam Marchand.
READ MORE: Atom Development Timberwolves golden at home tournament
“Coming in to tryouts and picking the team we thought it looked fairly balanced and that kind of played out in the final,” Fulton said. “We had six or seven goal scorers in that 7-3 win, so we aren’t just leaning on one or two players and it’s nice to see.”
Fulton is being joined by assistant coaches Jared Kohlen, Mike Rife and Shane McMath.
The T-wolves are now preparing to head to Vernon for another tournament Oct. 18-20 where they’ll face Abbotsford, Kamloops and Vernon in their first three games.
They’ll play their first home games against Quesnel on Saturday, Oct. 26 starting at 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. at the Cariboo Memorial Recreation Complex.
All told, Fulton said he’s looking forward to being behind the bench for the season.
“Between coaching soccer and hockey I’ve coached just about every one of these kids and they’re a really good group,” Fulton said. “There aren’t any troublemakers. Just a very coachable bunch of kids.”
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