Having played the league-leading Victoria Cougars to within a goal for more than two periods before losing 6-3 last week, the Westshore Wolves get a chance to improve on that result on home ice tonight (Dec. 9) in Colwood.
The Wolves host the Cougars for a 7 p.m. Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League game at The Q Centre. Westshore then heads to Nanaimo for a Thursday night game against the Buccaneers.
The Cougars (15-10-0), who trailed 3-2 at one point in the second period on Thursday in Esquimalt, scored three unanswered goals in the third to beat their South Division rivals.
After a scoreless first period, the teams traded goals in the second, but it was the Wolves who took a 3-2 lead on Tomba Huddlestan’s power play goal with 2:32 to go from Chase O’Keefe and Nathan Gelsinger.
Victoria’s Lane Vandewetering returned the favour at the 19:33 mark, connecting just eight seconds into a charging penalty to the Wolves’ Adam Page.
Dom Kolbeins made it 4-3 near the seven-minute mark of the third on a power play, and added an even-strength goal at 18:21, about a minute after Brett Lervold made it 5-3. The Cougars dominated the period, outshooting the Wolves 13-2 and 39-18 overall.
Brandon Tutte and Gelsinger also scored for Westshore in the second period.
The South Division-leading Cougars (23-4-1) went on to down Campbell River 7-1 in Esquimalt on Sunday afternoon, snapping a nine-game win streak for the North-leading Storm (20-6-1).
In last Wednesday’s home game (Dec. 2), Westshore goalie Leighton Williams kicked out 31 of 33 Comox Valley shots to earn game first star honours in a 3-2 win over the Glacier Kings.
Cory Hatcher bagged the eventual winner on the power play with 4:58 left in the second period, from Nathan Gelsinger and Branden Tangney.
Tanner Sidaway and Tangney also scored for the Wolves, who saw the Kings tie the game at 1-1 and 2-2 in the first and second periods, respectively.
editor@goldstreamgazette.com