Wolves Rustle Up a Victory on Country Night

by Jeff Barrett

Watertown, NY - The fifth and final meeting of the regular season between the Watertown Wolves and Mississippi Sea Wolves was on tap for an afternoon matchup in Watertown this Sunday. Following Saturday night's 9-4 Wolves win, Watertown looked to sweep the weekend.

For the second night in a row, the Wolves would get on the board first when Marc Bottero was able to slap home a rebound past Sea Wolves starter Richie Parent at the 4:37 mark. Assists on the goal belonged to Bryce Dirscherl and Carter Thornton.

Watertown outshot the Sea Wolves 17-11 in the first twenty minutes and held the 1-0 lead at the break.

Ross Bartlett knocked home a rebound at 3:14 of the second period, beating Watertown starter Anton Borodkin, giving the Sea Wolves their first goal of the night, knotting the game at 1-1. Assists on the goal belonged to Lucas Piekarczyk and Phillip Wong.

Davide Gaeta put the Wolves back in front at 5:23 of the frame with his fourth goal of the weekend , putting Watertown back in front 2-1.

At 15:28 of the period, Kyle Powell was able to lift a shot to the top of the cage that was originally waved off by the nearest official. While the Wolves stopped and celebrated, the Sea Wolves continued to keep playing and went down and scored what they thought was the tying goal, but during the ensuing stoppage, the officials came over and watched the replay that clearly showed that the Powell goal was good, so the Wolves ended up with the 3-1 lead after all.

The Sea Wolves' Ross Bartlett wasn't done just yet, as he would nab his second goal of the night, tightening the score to 3-2 at the 17:07 mark.

Watertown continued to outshoot the Sea Wolves, this time 17-15 in the second.

At the 8:57 ;point of the third, Tate Leeson was able to extend the Wolves lead to 4-2. Assists on the goal would go to Marc Bottero and Carter Thornton.

But just 2 minutes later the Sea Wolves again closed the gap to 4-3 on a Cutis Hanson goal, assisted by Phillip Wong and Lucas Piekarczyk.

The Wolves would hold on through a wild scramble killing off a couple of Sea Wolves power plays, and held on for the 4-3 win.

Next weekend the Wolves travel to Poughkeepsie, NY to take on the HC Venum at the McCann Ice Arena on Friday night, while the Mississippi Sea Wolves will head to Columbus, GA to battle the River Dragons on Friday and Saturday -nights.