November Recap

November was a month of ups and downs as the Wolves rose to first place in the North Division but also accumulated their first loss of the season. The team played 5 games this month for a record of 4-1-0.

The Wolves took on the Chinook Blazers at Castledowns on November 5. Scoring took off in the first period, with goals from #4 Nicole Thomas, #16 Carolyne Lavoie, #6 Brooklyn Pebiak, #10 Brigitte Hetu, #14 Logan Basterash, and #7 Nayha Johal. After scoring six in the first period, the Wolves only amped it up in the second. Scoring in the second came from Basterash, #11 Sydney Dutertre (2), Hetu (3), #18 Tessa Ross, #3 Ainsley McCoy-Birk, #88 Talia Teliani, and Lavoie. Following that blitzkrieg in the second period, the Wolves finished off the third with goals from #22 Grace Flanagan, Lavoie, and #91 Sydney Rusel. The Wolves beat the Blazers 19-0 and #30 Andrea Peric stopped 6 shots for her first shutout of the season!

Next weekend the Wolves travelled to Ardrossan to face off against the Sherwood Park Steele on November 12. The Steele got on the board first about halfway through the period, and then netted another. The Wolves quickly answered back after the second goal with a ice burner from the top of the circle by #44 Abby Fonteyne. Both teams battled hard through the second period but goalies stood strong and no goals were allowed. The Steele got on the power play right away in the third period and were able to extend their lead. The Wolves battled back all period and pulled their goalie to try and even the game. #5 Claudine Boucher was finally able to put one in off the post through traffic with 4 minutes left in the game. The Wolves continued to battle hard to score one more goal needed to take the game to overtime but to no avail, the Steele were able to hold them off until the final buzzer. #31 Paige Thomas turned aside 20 of 23 shots.

The Wolves took on the Fort Saskatchewan Fury the following weekend on November 20. Both teams battled hard through the first period but the score remained goose eggs on both sides after one period of play. Soon into the second period Teliani opened the scoring with a power play goal in a net front battle where she was finally able to slide the puck past the Fury net minder. The Wolves remained up by a score of 1-0 going into the third. #13 Moira Bryan scored less than 5 minutes into the third period on another net front battle where she was able to chip the puck past the Fury goalie. Later in the period on the power play, Flanagan tipped a shot from the point into the net to seal the game at 3-0 for the Wolves. Thomas stopped all 13 shots that she faced for her second shutout of the season!

The Wolves held a Hockey Fights Cancer night on Saturday November 26 for their game against the Fort Saskatchewan Fury. There was a small ceremony prior to the game honouring Tanis Thomas who we lost earlier in the week after a lengthy and hard-fought battle with cancer. Her husband Ward Thomas and daughter Paige Thomas participated in a ceremonial puck drop. Dutertre opened the scoring in the first period with a dangle that froze the Fury goaltender. Later in the period on the penalty kill, Dutertre scored another the exact same way. Boucher potted another with less than 2 minutes left to put the Wolves up 3-0 going into the second period. Later in the second, the Fury were able to break through and score a goal of their own. Towards the end of the period on the power play #25 Rory Bothwell scored to extend the Wolves' lead. Less than a minute into the third period, Boucher scored another, and late in the period Dutertre scored again for her first AJFHL hat trick! Thomas turned aside 14 of 15 shots to help the Wolves win 6-1!

The next day, the Wolves travelled to Penhold to take on the Central Alberta Amazons. Flanagan opened the scoring 6 minutes into the period, and McCoy-Birk scored less than 3 minutes later. Later in the period the Amazons answered back on the power play with a goal, but Ross potted one at the end of the period to put the score at 3-1. The Amazons opened the scoring in the second period, but the Wolves quickly answered back with a goal from Johal. The Amazons scored again with less than 4 minutes left in the period to put their deficit back within one. Flanagan then scored another with 2 minutes left, and Teliani was able to put one in with just two seconds left in the period! Pebiak scored 4 minutes into the third. The Amazons would go on to score one more later in the period, but the Wolves won 7-4! Peric stopped 13 of 17 shots to help get the Wolves get the win.

The Wolves only play one game per weekend on Saturdays in December. The month kicks off with a set of road trips to Calgary and Penhold, and then they head to Fort Saskatchewan for their last game before Christmas break. The Wolves are looking forward to finishing out the calendar year strong, and then preparing to ramp up for playoffs in the new year!