Wild offensive blast in first period leads to 9-5 onslaught
By Jon Yaneff

If the King Wild had it their way, the three-game weekend would have gone slightly smoother in the win category.

But, their effort was absolute and to the point, especially during Saturday's victorious 9-5 onslaught at home at the expense of the South Muskoka Shield.

The win was due largely to the Wild coming out of the gate strong, as they scored five goals in the first 14 minutes of the game, and led 6-1 after the very telling first period.

"The game plan was to come out strong because we have a tendency to start flat," said Wild Coach Sheldon Friske. "But rumor has it the Shield had a few of its best players miss curfew the night before and their coach (Jeff Stack) benched them. We got two points in the standings so that was OK with us."

Gritty Wild forward Dan Douglas had a very impressive game with a first period hat trick, en route to a five-point performance, making him the first star of the game.

Douglas credited his play to linemates Marc Fortin and Steve Wicklum.

"Since we were assembled as a line, hat tricks and goals have been coming everywhere," he said.

"He's one of those guys that can score, but it's nice when we have different scorers every night, so other teams don't just watch one player," said Friske. "Tonight Douglas notches five points, the next game someone else could and that's what we want; big games out of everybody, but at different times."

Douglas opened the game's scoring (assisted by Tom Coukos and Wicklum) as well as the flood gates, as Coukos (assisted by Keylan Marchant) and Michael Garvie (assisted by Chris Martella and Matt Tasson) also netted markers, chasing Shield goalie Eric Pye from the game after the third goal with 8:53 left in the first period. He was replaced with backup Steve Brown.

The change in net didn't matter, as Fortin (assisted by Wicklum and Douglas) and Douglas (from Brandon Beadow) potted two quick goals a few minutes later.

With about one minute left in the first, Shield forward Dylan Sontag (assisted by Dylan Cote and Will Rinaldi) tried to mount the comeback for South Muskoka, putting his team on the board.

But the Wild came roaring back, as Douglas completed his hat trick (assisted by Fortin and Derek Long) on a long shot from the left point with three seconds left in the period. Brown was screened by Wild players.

Frustration mounted after two more Wild goals by Anthony Simone and Fortin (from Douglas and Wicklum), as a brawl at the Shield bench ensued.

"What happened was Beadow got hit into their bench and it looked like one of their guys grabbed Beadow's stick and he turned away and gave the Shield player a punch, so that's when the bench altercation occurred," said Friske. "It shouldn't happen, but it did."

The Shield's Travis Saltz, on a pass from Jackson Cain, made the game 8-2 going into the third.

The visitors tried to chip away at the Wild lead in the third, with goals from Jordan Singor (from Saltz), Rinaldi (from Jesse Goheen and Cote) and Sontag (from Cote), who was the game's third star.

The Wild's Matt Salituro (from Garvie) ended the scoring for King in the middle of the Shield's premature comeback.

Fortin was the second star of the game with his two goals and one assist for the night.

King goaltender Craig Byford stopped 41 of 46 Shield shots on net to pick up the victory. The Wild had 57 shots on net on both Shield goaltenders.

The win was much needed because the Wild's uncharacteristic 8-4 loss to the 10th-place Nipissing Alouettes Friday.

Though the Wild out shot them 42-22, they ran into a hot Aloulette goalie. The Wild goals came from Wicklum, Douglas, Beadow and David Manning.

In the contest, the Wild played well for the first two periods, out shooting Nipissing badly, 37-11, and only trailing 4-3, but then they fell apart in the third period. Chris Stellato was in net for the Wild, only stopping 14 of 22 shots on net.

"If we won on Friday, our two points on Saturday would have jumped us ahead of the Shield," said Friske.

The Wild played a close game in Innisfil Sunday, but they lost 5-3 with an empty net Laker goal coming late in the contest.

Byford played well in net for the Wild, making 46 saves on 51 Laker shots. King had goals from Matt Marchese (assisted by Salituro), Douglas (assisted by Wicklum) and Jon Adams (assisted by Marchese and Beadow), coming on their 42 shots on net.

After the weekend the Wild (18-19-2) are now tied for seventh with the Richmond Hill Rams in the Greater Metro Junior A League standings with 38 points.

They are also one back of the Shield, although they have played five more games than the Rams and two more than Muskoka.

The Wild will be challenged at home Saturday at 8:30 p.m. against the Deseronto Storm, who are in third place with 52 points.