Wild ends their slump with big win over Elliot Lake
By Bill Rea

Luke Fortin was advancing the puck in the late going of Saturday's 10-3 win for the Wild.

There's one very nice thing about King Wild losing streaks, and that's the guys end them with style.

That was certainly the case Saturday night, when they handed the Elliot Lake Bobcats a 10-3 thumping.

But that came on the heels of two tough losses. They fell last Wednesday 5- 2 to the Toronto Canada Moose at home, then travelled to Gravenhurst Friday, and came home on the wrong end of a 5-4 decision against the South Muskoka Shield.

The Wild were trailing the Moose 3-1 in the third period, but there was some promise when Brendan Farrugia concluded a beautiful rush by putting the puck in the upper section of the opposition net, with help from Daniel Douglas. Matt Marchese had notched the first goal early in the frame, with assists going to Matthew Salituro and Anthony Simone. But the Moose responded with power-play goal about minute and a half later, then notched a flukey goal in the last couple of minutes for the win.

"It all comes down to coaching," a candid Head Coach Paul Hampton remarked after the game, commenting on the amount of talent he has in the dressing room and the need to get them to produce. "I've got to change something."

Things were better Friday night, but a couple of illtimed penalties in the last couple of minutes let the Shield go ahead 5-4.

One bright spot was the addition of Tom Coukos to the line-up. He played both Friday and Saturday, and demonstrated he knows how to make a good first impression. He notched two goals in each outing. Chris Martella and Douglas collected the other two markers Friday, with assists going to Craig Byford, Brandon Beadow, David Manning, Jon Adams and Derek Long.

But it was a much different story Saturday.

Hampton said he had a talk with him men before the game, and told them they had nowhere to go but up.

"To play against these teams, we have to give 110 per cent, three periods, the whole game," he observed.

He added he stressed the need to be strong in their own end and concentrate on getting the puck out.

Another fact was the Bobcats played at home the night before, so they would have been tired. but he wasn't willing to let that detract from the importance of Saturday's result.

"It's a win and we'll take a win any way we can," he remarked. "It's what we needed. We needed something like this. The clouds have been over our skies for a long time.

Coukos, Simone and Marc Fortin were two-goal men for the cause, with Salituro, Beadow, Michael Garvie and Colin Shearing notching singles. Shearing, Beadow, Adams and Salituro each collected two assists during the evening, while Garvie, Keylan Marchant, Coukos, Mathew Tasson, Douglas and Marchese contributed one apiece.

Coukos is a 19-year-old Oak Ridges resident who had been playing junior A hockey in Vaughan. He knew a couple of players on the team, and since he lives nearby, he thought it would be a good fit.

"I like the league," he said. "I really like the team.'

The Wild return to action Saturday night, when they will host the Temiscaming Royals, starting at 8:30 p.m.