Wild advanced to the next round after dropping Moose in five
By Bill Rea

The Wild players accepted the congratulations of the Toronto Canada Moose at the end of Sunday's match.

The King Wild will be playing their next game this Saturday afternoon, but they don't yet know who they will be facing.

The local heroes earned a berth in the next round of the Greater Metro Junior A Hockey League playoffs Sunday after they defeated the Toronto Canada Moose in five games. They will be facing either the Richmond Hill Rams or the Nipissing Alouettes, depending on who wins their best-of-seven series. The Rams had a 3-2 edge in games with the sixth match scheduled for last night (Tuesday) in Sturgeon Falls (results not known at press time).

Club President Naz Marchese reported Tuesday the Wild will have home-ice advantage in the coming series, and all those matches will be at the arena in Nobleton. They will be Saturday, starting at 4 p.m. and Sunday at 3. Sixth and seventh games, if necessary, will be next Saturday (March 17) at 4 and Sunday at 3. The scheduling for the third, fourth and fifth games will depend on who the opponent is.

If one forgets the second game of the series, the Wild had a pretty easy time getting by the Moose, posting an 8-3 victory in the opening game last Tuesday in Nobleton, a 5-3 win Friday in the third match in Nobleton, a 9-1 triumph Saturday in Thornhill and they wrapped things up Sunday with a 6-2 win in King City. King had trouble in the second outing of the series, dropping an 8-3 verdict in Thornhill last Wednesday afternoon.

The opening game in the series was a pretty even affair until late in the second period, when the Wild started to pull away, to take the 8-3 win.

Penalties were something of a factor in this outing, as four of the Wild and one of the Moose markers came with the man advantage, although Marc Fortin converted a break away in the last minute of the second period while his mates were killing a penalty.

Alex Pozdrowski bagged two of the other markers, while singles were notched by Ryan Aikins, Derek Long, Marc Zanette, Kyle Baulne and Sean Pollard. Mike Bodley and Dan Douglas led the way in the assist department with two apiece, while Zanette, Kurt Zdrillich, Brendon Farrugia, John Adams and Chris Martella each collected one.

Winning is a great way to start a series, but head Coach Paul Hampton was still concerned about a couple of factors, such as an apparent let down his men had late in the first period. "With these guys, discipline's always a big issue," he remarked.

"It's a series, not one game," he added.

Another issue in the series was the scheduling of the games, with the second one set for a Wednesday afternoon (had a seventh game been necessary, it was set for this afternoon in Thornhill). Work requirements meant Hampton couldn't be behind the bench, and he said Baulne had a major exam that day at school, which kept him out of the line up.

"It's such an asinine time to have a hockey game," the coach complained. "I don't know why we have to be forced to accept it."

Last Wednesday's game again started as a fairly close match, but this time it was the Moose that ended up pulling away for the 8-3 victory.

Ryan Williamson, Douglas and Bodley scored, with Bodley and Douglas each getting an assist.

"We came out flying in the first," observed Assistant Coach Cerrone Natale. "The second period was our Achilles heel. It killed us."

On the other hand, the solid thrashing might have been a wake-up call for the club, and the way things went Friday night indicated just that.

"We definitely came out to play tonight," Trainer Brian Taylor remarked after the 5-3 win in Nobleton. He added the Moose has always provided a few difficulties for the Wild to overcome.

The local side was up 2-1 at the end of the first period Friday, thanks to a powerplay goal from Fortin, assisted by Pollard, and another tally by Zdrillich from Piero Petti. The guys gave a bit of ground to their foes late in the second when they spotted the Moose a short-handed goal, but they notched the first two markers of the third. Zdrillich got his second of the night from Matt Marchese and Petti, and Zanette was set up by Baulne a couple of minutes later. The Moose notched a nice one a couple of minutes after that, but Fortin put the game out of reach in the last minute, with help from Pollard and Long.

Although it was Fortin who relieved the tension, Hampton was not picking favourites at the end. "The whole team's my buddy right now," he remarked.

He thought his men played well, despite a bit of a let-down in the second period. On the other hand, he observed their goal tally could easily have been higher, had a couple of breaks gone the right way.

If things went well Friday, they were better Saturday in Thornhill, as the Wild prevailed 9-1. Marchese said the Moose marker got by goalie Craig Byford because it deflected off a Wild player's skate.

"That was the only way you were going to beat Byford," he declared. "He was that sharp."

Hampton later said the team struggled for a couple of hard-fought goals, than the flood came. He added building up a big lead has it's drawbacks too. "It's a struggle to keep them focused," he said.

Pollard was a three-goal man Saturday night, while Bodley contributed two others. Singles were added by Matt Dickins, Douglas, Zanette and Farrugia. Farrugia, Bodley and Zdrillich each notched a pair of assists, while Pollard and Zanette got one each.

The following evening was the decisive one for the series. "I thought we played better tonight than we did last night," Hampton remarked after watching his men wrap things up with a solid 6-2 triumph.

Everything did seem to be clicking for the Wild, including the breaks. The Moose took the early lead, but luck smiled on King in the last minute of the opening frame when a loose puck ended up in front of the penalty box just as Pollard was emerging after serving a two-minute stretch, and he encountered no significant interference as he cruised in to tie the score, with Fortin picking up an assist. And Bodley put his side into the lead for keeps before that final minute had expired, set up by Aikins and Douglas.

Pollard put the side up by two early in the second by gloving down the puck at the blue line and firing it home, with Fortin drawing an assist. Baulne got two goals later in the frame (one on the power play) with assists going to Aikins, Bodley, Zanette and Douglas, but the Moose sandwiched their last goal of their season in between the two. Baulne fought hard for the hat trick, and would have had it had not Moose goalie Devyn Scattolin plucked a sure goal out of thin air with his glove in the third.

Bodley got the final goal after working the puck out from behind the Moose net and putting it in a top corner, with some help from Zanette.

Baulne later agreed he was "snake bit at the end."

"That goalie was really good at the end," he added.

"I got a lucky bounce on the second one; off the helmet and in," he remarked. "It was a lucky one, but I'll take it."

Hampton expressed a certain relief that the series was over. "The final game's always the toughest," he said, adding his men were a little flat at the start, while the Moose were in top form.

Another feather for the team was they got through the series without the services of leading scorer Jordan Gidaro. Hampton said he's been battling bronchitis, and while he was probably fit to start, the coach wanted to give him some more time to heal.

"I'd rather he stay home and get better and better," he observed. "Once you start playing sick, it never ends. You play sick for the rest of the year."