King Wild on the verge of sweep of Douro Dukes in GMHL playoffs
By Jon Yaneff

Wild forward Anthony Simone skates out of his zone in Game 2 of his team's series against the Douro Dukes Saturday night.

It wasn't always conventional, but the King Wild are on the verge of a sweep in their best-of-seven Greater Metro Junior A Hockey League (GMHL) first round series against the lowly, 13th-place Douro Dukes.

The Wild were leading the series 3-0 as of press time, with the fourth game scheduled for Douro Tuesday night.

Game 1 of the series was solely an offensive affair, with the final score 10-8 for the Wild at York University.

Players were disappointed with the contest being so close against the 13th-place Dukes.

"It was a terrible game, we played brutal," said Wild winger Dan Douglas. "We didn't play any defence at all, so I guess everybody just wanted to score goals."

And just about everybody did score, with eight Wild players netting the 10 goals. The list included David Manning and Jon Adams (three points) with two each and Matt Marchese (five points), Matt Salituro, Douglas (two points), Michael Garvie, Steve Wicklum and Anthony Simone recording singles. Also Keylan Marchant helped out with two assists, while Derek Long had one.

The Wild heavily outshot the Dukes 53- 26, as goaltender Craig Byford only made 18 saves in the victory.

Game 2 was a lot more enlightening, with a 10-0 shutout and much improved defensive play across the board.

The goals came in bunches, period-byperiod, as the rain-man trio line consisting of Douglas, Marc Fortin and Wicklum poured 13 points in the rather dominated contest.

In the first the goals came in the first 5:28 of the opening period as Douglas notched two (Marc and Luke Fortin assisting of the first) and Salituro (assisted by Marchant and Garvie).

The in the first 66 seconds of the second, the Wild struck again with Douglas completing his hat trick (assisted by Marc Fortin and Colin Shearing) and Fortin getting two quick ones 10 seconds apart (Douglas assisting on both and Long on one).

Simone raised the Wild lead to 7-0 heading into the third.

"I couldn't take these guys (the Fortin line) off the ice because they kept scoring," explained Wild Coach Sheldon Friske after Game 2. "They proved that we shouldn't play lightly, especially if we have an off night."

Wicklum (assisted by Douglas and goalie Kyle Parker), Fortin (assisted by Wicklum) and Salituro (assisted by Brandon Beadow) concluded the scoring in the very lop-sided Wild victory.

Fortin (three goals and two assists) and Douglas (three goals and three assists) were the first and second stars of the game respectively.

The victory came at a cost, as Andrew Beattie, Luke Fortin (instigators in the first) and James McQueston (fighting penalty in the third) all received games misconducts for fighting. McQueston's gritty play and toughness earned him the third star of the game. As a result of the fighting, McQueston drew a two game suspension, while Beattie and Fortin were punished with one game each.

During the series, the Wild got back tough guy Adam Hermanus from injury. He had been out since the Wild's 5-3 loss in Innisfil against the Lakers Jan. 27.

The Wild had 61 big shots on Dukes' goalie Caydon Edwards, while Parker earned the shutout, stopping all 19 shots he faced.

Game 3 saw the Wild pummel the Dukes 12-1 in an impressive road win.

This contest got off to a flying start as Marc Fortin scored 15 seconds into the game and team didn't looked back.

Fortin had two goals in the spirited affair, while Salituro chipped in with a pair to beat the goaltender as well.

Parker started the game, but was given a rest and replaced with backup Chris Stellato with the Wild leading 8-0 heading into the third period.

So far in the GMHL playoffs there have been no surprises as all of the favourites are currently ahead 3-0 in their respective opening rounds as of press time. The firstplace Bradford Rattlers are leading the 11thplace Toronto Canada Moose, the secondplace Temiscaming Royals are up on the ninth-place Espanola Kings, the fourth-place Deseronto Storm have the lead against the 10th-place Tamworth Cyclones and the fifth-place Elliot Lake Bobcats are handling the 12th-place Nipissing Alouettes.

The third-place Innisfil Lakers, the sixthplace Richmond Hill Rams and the seventhplace South Muskoka Shield, who all had first round byes, are awaiting their opponents for the second round.

Friske originally thought the Wild (who finished eighth in the league) could be facing the Rattlers in the second round, since after the first round the top four teams pick from the bottom four and based on travel distance it would make sense for the Rattlers to pick the Wild.

But now the consensus around the league is the Rattlers might pick South Muskoka, which are also nearby, to give the Wild the opportunity to upset a higher-ranked opponent.

If everything goes as planned the second round matchups could be selected today (Wednesday) and they could start as early as Friday night (Feb. 29), with Saturday and Sunday continuing the series as well.

"The playoffs are different because you play back-to-back games," noted Douglas. "Whoever we play in the second round we'll try to wear them down to gain some momentum. That's what carries you in the playoffs."