Speed, strong goaltending and a lights-out performance by forward Dylan Price sparked a short-staffed Niagara-on-the-Lake Wolves U18 rep team to victory at the Dan Burns Memorial Family Day Tournament in Lindsay, Ontario this weekend.
The Wolves opened up the tournament Friday afternoon with a 3-1 victory over the Pembroke Kings. The Kings scored first but the Wolves tied it up late in the period then added one each in the second and third for the win.
Victory number two came early Saturday morning, another 3-1 win, this one over the Frontenac Flyers. And they capped off an undefeated round-robin performance by doubling the Orono Leafs 4-2 later that afternoon.
Heading into Sunday morning's semi-final, the Wolves faced the Norwood Hornets. NOTL skated to a hard-fought 4-0 win with goalie Nick Sattarzadeh backstopping them to earn the shutout.
In the championship game, the Wolves, ranked number two in the province, faced off against the number seven Napanee Stars. From the opening faceoff the Wolves jumped all over the Stars with their speed. Devon Hunter opened the scoring four minutes into the game. Dylan Price and Josh Dulas added goals in the second period to pad the lead and hat proved to be all the scoring NOTL needed, as Quinten Davis closed the door for a second consecutive shutout for the Wolves, who cruised through the playoff round without giving up a single goal.
The team played with only 12 skaters against rosters of 15 to 17 and outworked them all, says head coach Adam Whyte. The top scorer for the Wolves was Dylan Price, with seven goals and two assists over the five games.
The Wolves U18 rep team is currently battling it out in the Niagara District Hockey Association playoffs. They began the round-robin portion with a 5-0 win over the Pelham Panthers and have five more round-robin games to try to punch their ticket to the final series between the top two teams. The winner of that series (first to four points) will earn a berth in the Ontario Minor Hockey Association Tier 1 championships scheduled for April 4 through 6 in Halton Hills.
Team members:
Dylan Price
Noah Whyte
Logan Rossi
Josh Dulas
Nate Ditto
Devin Hunter
Billy Pilitteri-Smith
Calo Zambito
Mitch Olsen
Jacob Cook
Jacob Dulas
Sheldon Walker (AP)
Eddie Friesen
Quinten Davis (G)
Nick Sattarzadeh (G)
Coaches:
Adam Whyte
Ryan Parsons
Glen Davis
Justin York