It took longer than they would have liked, but the North Star Wolves have their first win of the WECSSAA boys hockey season.
The Wolves beat the Brennan Cardinals 6-3 last Thursday afternoon at the Libro Centre in Amherstburg. With the victory, the Wolves are now 1-3-1.
Kyle Jones, Steven Desantis, Ryken Atherton, Tiago Gonclaves, Graham Evans and Tyler Gignac scored for the Wolves. North Star scored twice in each of the three periods while Brennan managed one goal per period.
Gonclaves goal came shorthanded in the second period as he used his speed not only to get to the puck for the first shot, but to then bury the puck on the rebound.
“It feels pretty good,” he said of the Wolves’ first victory. “We worked hard, pushed the forecheck and came together as a team.”
Gonclaves said he saw an opportunity and sped to the puck. He put a shot on goal and it went in for his team.
“Glennie loves the soft spots,” said Gonclaves, in reference to head coach Glen Holden’s desire to have the players move to the soft spots in the defensive zone coverage.
Holden was happy to finally break into the win column.
“The message before the game is we’re a better team than our record indicates,” said Holden.
The victory will make the Wolves feel better going forward, he believed, and noted it was pleasing to see the amount of goals they scored.
“We’ve struggled scoring goals,” said Holden. “To put up six is nice.”
This year’s Wolves hockey team is a young one and “it definitely raises our confidence getting the win.”
North Star has to tighten up in the defensive zone and eliminate the turnovers, Holden added, as those tend to get them into some trouble during games. He said Brennan’s third goal could have been “a back-breaker” for his team but the players recovered.
The Wolves travel to Windsor to play Lajeunesse Thursday (Jan. 18) and their next home game is against Riverside Jan. 23. Both games are at 3 p.m.
By Ron Giofu
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