Heart Break in Vancouver

[Greg_Di 1,028]

 

It was supposed to be the rebound story of the VHL, from last to cup winners in just one season, but the story never materialized. The story came to a crashing halt in game 7 as the Wolves lost 4-2 to the DC Dragons and were eliminated from post-season contention.

 

The game started out strong for the Wolves early on in the first period as Pierre Emile Bouchard scored his 3rd of the season just 2 minutes and 21 seconds into the game. His goal was assisted by Nico Pearce and Biggie Cheese. The fans went wild and everyone was happy with the quick start to the game. The players knew this is the start they needed if they were going to win this game.

 

All of a sudden, things went from great to bad as Nezuko scored 2 quick goals. First goal 8:09 into the game and then another quick one 2 minutes later to give the Dragons a 2-1 lead. The mood in the arena quickly changed from the loudness of the fans to the silence where you could hear a pin drop. The Wolves quick start quickly turned into being a goal down. The period ended and the Wolves players quickly went to the locker room.

 

"After that 1st period, we just talked as a team in the locker room. We knew what we had to do and we knew we had lots of time left to make it right" Henry Eagles said " 2-1 was not that bad of a score, we had 2 periods to make it right. We were pumped up and went into the 2nd period with a fire under our ass"

 

The second period came and went and while there was lots of action, including a fight and game misconduct, the goalies for both teams kept the puck out of the net. No team was able to score in the second period and now the Wolves were just 20 minutes away from elimination.

 

" The locker room after the 2nd period was a whole different mood then after the 1st, the fire was gone and now it seemed like desperation was in the air" Henry continued " We were 20 minutes away from getting eliminated and we were no closer to taking a lead in this game"

 

The 3rd period started and disaster struck for the Wolves as Ronan Lavelle scored a goal just 1 minute and 16 seconds into the 3rd period. This goal really deflated the Wolves and you could see the energy drop. While morale was low, the Wolves still managed to make a fight out of it. 11 minutes into the period, Svatopluk Puk scored a goal on the powerplay to once again put the Wolves within one goal. Unfortunately that would be as close as the Wolves would get. Even though they tried their best they were unable to score another goal. In the dying minutes, Corey Kitson of the Dragons scored an empty net goal which put the final nails in the coffin for the Wolves.

 

"It was disappointing, I don't think anyone said a word in that locker room for the next 10 minutes after the game, it was just so silent. " Henry said " Eventually our GM gave us a rousing speech which seemed to lift the spirit of our guys and we all knew that we didn't want to have this feeling again. We knew we will bounce back better then ever next season"