Wasps Sting Wild
- by Alex Dodds
- Nov 14, 2015
- 2 min read
The Hanover Wild (1-1-0, 1-0-0 NHAHA) lost in a close one to the Woodstock Jr. Wasps (2-1-0). The Wild got a quick 1-0 lead on the first shift with a fantastic individual effort by Nathan St. Pierre, who promised a goal on his first shift prior to the game. St. Pierre held true to his word as Quinn Murnaghan caused a turnover and St. Pierre used his speed to beat two Wasps defenders before sniping one off the post and in.
However, a slow start for the Wild cost them. The Wasps scored two unanswered goals 30 seconds apart to take the 2-1 lead early in the first. The Wild were still trying to find their legs when the Wasps struck again a few minutes later, giving the Wasps a demanding 3-1 lead.
Backed by some beautiful saves by Jackson Kapuscinski, the Wild and Wasps battled back and forth, with the score staying 3-1 at the end of two periods. The Wild getting an edge in scoring chances, with an incredible behind the back pass from Jake Reznek to Ben Ives who rang one of the crossbar.
Led by great effort from Reznek, the Wild continued to fire shots on the Wasps' goaltender. Gregor Vogel had a few great opportunities after driving wide and bringing the puck hard to the net. Carter Auch swung momentum back in favor of the Wild after laying a huge hit in open ice and then drawing a penalty right after.
Strong play from Will Fichman and Tom Lyons held the Wasps snipers to only a few scoring opportunities, which were stopped by Kapuscinski. With two minutes remaining the Wild pulled Kapsucinski and took the 6-on-5 advantage. The Wild seemed to everything but score in the final minutes of the game, creating multiple scoring opportunities that were shrugged away by the Wasps goaltender.
The Wasps capped off the victory by adding an empty netter with seconds remaining in the game to take the 4-1 lead.
"I thought it was a pretty solid effort from most of the team." head coach Alex Dodds said after the game. "I think our team saw it's going to take 36 minutes of all-out effort from every player to win games. It's hard for teams to win games if even one player isn't giving it their all."
The Wild will have a hard week of practice before facing off against two NHAHA opponents next weekend--the Henniker Huskies (2-1-0 NHAHA) and the Plymouth Predators (0-0-1 NHAHA).
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