King Wild win three of four games in wild and busy week
By Bill Rea

Playing four games in as many days is going to be a strain on a group of young hockey players, but the King Wild had a few other factors to deal with over the last couple of days.

They won three of their four games from Friday to Monday. Two of the matches were chippy affairs, especially Saturday's contest at home against the Bradford Rattlers. There were a number of fights over the evening, which saw seversal players prematurely excused from further play, including both starting goalies.

There was also an incident in the stands, involving a spectator and one of the Bradford players, and that brought York Regional Police to the arena in King City, responding to reports that someone had been stabbed. In the end, police said that while some witnesses reported seeing some sort of metal object, they concluded it was the blade of a skate. Detective Manny Alvarez said they were still treating the matter as an assault investigation, and charges were possible.

The week started for the team Friday night in Gravenhurst, where the Wild faced the South Muskoka Shield. King won that match 5-1, but Head Coach Paul Hampton wasn't completely pleased with the way the evening developed. Some of his players were banged up on the match.

"The referee put his whistle in his pocket and just let things go," he remarked.

Brendon Farrugia led the attack with four goals, while captain Mike Bodley notched the other one. Matt Dickins and Dan Douglas were two-assist men for the cause, while singles were posted by Chris Martella, John Sturino, Marc Fortin, Derek Long and Matt Brereton.

Saturday's contest with Bradford saw the Wild lose just their second game of the campaign. The final score was 3-2.

The Rattlers were up 3-0, with one goal per period, before the local guys were able to get moving. Despite the deficit, they were able to make things close.

The Wild were able to capitalize on a two-man advantage in the late going, as Ryan Aikins connected, with help from Sturino and Bodley. Then Bodley converted a nice set up a little more than a minute later, courtesy of Sturino and Marc Zanette. But the last couple of minutes were marred by the bulk of the evening's punch-ups. The Rattlers were obliged to play a man short the rest of the way, but even pulling the goalie couldn't earn the Wild the equalizer.

Bradford was able to ice a big and imposing looking group of players, and Hampton observed that put his men at a disadvantage right from the start.

"We came out expecting to lose," he remarked after the match, commenting the players were a little intimidated. "We played like it for the first period and a half."

The side was able to close the gap late in the match, but the coach pointed out it was a case of "too little too late."

But things got better for the club on a couple of levels the following evening.

For one thing, they won, 8-6 over the Richmond Hill Rams, avenging the loss they suffered in their first match of the season. And it was a peaceful evening, with none of the trouble that had marred the previous evening.

"It was a very clean game," club president Naz Marchese remarked the following day. There were no fights, and only a total of 20 minutes in penalties assessed, with King only serving six of them.

Scoring was spread through the line up, with Fortin getting a pair and singles coming from Farrugia, Jordan Gidaro, Zanette, Kurt Zdrillich, Douglas and Bodley. Matt Marchese, Douglas, Brereton and Zdrillich led their mates in the assist department with two each, while Zanette, Sturino, Ryan Williamson, Bodley and Farrugia each counted one.

"We had a bad let down that let them get back into the game," Hampton later observed.

Monday saw the Wild host the South Muskoka crew, and emerge on top of a 6-3 decision, after an entertaining and tame contest.

The Wild opened the scoring with 9:10 gone in the opening period, courtesy of Zdrillich, assisted by Zanette and Gidaro, but the Shield tied things up exactly 26 seconds later. King notched two quick powerplay goals by Douglas from Kyle Baulne and Sturino and by Gidaro from Zdrillich and Zanette. The scoring wasn't done for the frame, as the Muskoka crew banked a shot off of goalie Craig Byford's shoulder for their second goal, but Fortin restored the two-goal lead with less than two minutes left on the clock, on a beautiful set up from Sturino and Matt Marchese.

The Shield jumped back into the game with a goal with just 36 seconds gone in the second period, but Douglas responded with an unassisted marker a couple of minutes later, then Marchese let fly a shot that trickled through the pads of the Shield goalie to close out the scoring. Fortin helped out on the play.

Hampton was heaping praise on his men after their busy schedule.

"Everybody's tired," he commented, adding they had to play the last two periods with just four defencemen. "I think it was a good effort for our fourth game in less than four days."

He was also concerned about the previous problems, commenting that he tried to instill in his men the importance of them maintaining their composure and keeping focused on the job they were there to do.

"It's unfortunate that the incident escalated," he remarked, referring to

Saturday's problems. "It created a ruckus for nothing."

The Wild will be spending the coming week on the road.

Saturday will see them facing the Deseronto Thunder, starting at 7:30 p.m.

Their Sunday match will have them heading for Bradford for another encounter with the Rattlers. That game will start at 7:30 p.m.