Wolves girls hockey team finish regular season with .500 record

By Ron Giofu

The North Star Wolves girls hockey team have concluded the regular season with just as many wins as they had losses.

The Wolves were on the road twice last week and came away with a tie and a win and that allowed North Star to finish the regular season with a 4-4-2 record.

The Wolves were in Windsor last Monday afternoon and came away with a 2-2 tie against Lajeunesse.

Mikalah Wilcox scored both goals for North Star while Sarah Scobie and Sage Fateaux scored for Lajeunesse.

The next day, North Star headed up the road to LaSalle and pulled out a 1-0 win over the Sandwich Sabres at the Vollmer Complex.

A shorthanded goal in the second period by Wilcox was enough for the Wolves to pull out the victory.

“I thought the defense played a really good game,” said Abby Souchereau. “They backchecked and the forwards played well in our zone.”

Souchereau said they wanted to get the win on the road before the playoffs start. She believes they will face tough competition with a lot of good teams in the WECSSAA “AA” playoffs.

“I thought we were going to lose,” she admitted. “I didn’t expect to win this game.”

Sandwich had defeated North Star 4-0 in the first game of the season back on Nov. 30.

“It was a little bit better than the last time we played them,” said North Star head coach Dan Pettypiece.

“It was a battle. (Sandwich) has a strong goalie. It was a battle of goalies.”

Once the Wolves took the lead, they played a good defensive game, he added, and didn’t over-pursue the puck.

“It was good to see,” said Pettypiece. “They still get a little bit nervous sometimes.”

The .500 regular season record was not a surprise for the coaches, he indicated.

“I think that’s where I thought we’d be,” said Pettypiece. “We gave up a couple of point earlier in the season.”

The young Wolves team improved as the season went on and are a close-knit team, he added.

“They support each other really well,” said Pettypiece. “They are still learning, though.”

There are only two Grade 12s and a few Grade 11 players, he added, with the rest in either Grade 9 or Grade 10.

Against Lajeunesse, the Wolves came back to tie the game against a team that has a goalie attending the University of Windsor on a scholarship next season, Pettypiece added.

“When you have a chance to score, you have to make good shot selections,” he said.

The WECSSAA quarterfinals will be tomorrow (Feb. 16) in Essex starting at 3 p.m.