U18 Wolves in great shape heading to Silver Stick

With the International Silver Stick finals just around the corner, the Niagara-on-the-Lake Wolves U18 rep team’s recent play bodes well for them. 

The Wolves picked up their tenth win of the season last week, a 5-1 victory over the West Niagara Flying Aces at Virgil’s Meridian Credit Union Arena. Their record of 10-3-3 places them in first place in the Niagara District Hockey League with 8 games to go in the regular season. 

After giving up a goal to the Flying Aces just 15 seconds into Wednesday’s contest, the Wolves stormed back, with captain Dylan Price firing a wrist shot into the West Niagara net 13 minutes later. They took the lead with 6:29 remaining in the first period when Logan Rossi scored the first of his two goals in the game. Noah Whyte and Lucas Roberts Ramos added singles before the horn sounded at the end of the third.. 

Outside of a recent 3-1 loss on December 6 to Thorold, head coach Devon Neudorf says he and his coaching staff have been very happy with the solid play of their squad. 

“The boys have really shown up since our Silver Stick win,” he says, referring to their gold medal performance in Midland in November. “They’re pushing, they’re giving 100 percent for the full three periods. Over the last ten games we’ve had some 5-0, 5-1 wins. We’re not making the mistakes that can keep the games tighter.”

The win over West Niagara is a good example of that. 

“We came out of the first period with the lead,” Neudorf points out. “They really rallied after that early goal, and they piled it on in the second. It was great to see. We shook up the power play a bit and that helped light a fire under them.”

Neudorf gives credit to Marco Gruosso, the team’s captain, for the leadership he provides to the young team. 

“He’s a really strong personality,” says Neudorf, “really outspoken and well-spoken, a great motivator. He always has a positive attitude, that’s why we gave him the role. Lucas (Roberts Ramos) sits next to him in the room. I’ll hand it to them to finish a speech, I let them talk so they can give a little push from within.”

And his strong goaltending tandem of Quinten Davis and Braden Sawyer sometimes makes for some tough decisions. 

“They were the two goalies on the U16 team last year,” Neudorf points out. “We have two starting goaltenders who have been battling back and forth with each other with great performances night in and night out. We rotate them game by game in league play, and in tournaments we tend to give them each a start in the early rounds and then go with our gut after that.”

That strategy paid off in Midland, when they went with Davis in net for the final few games on their way to beating the South Muskoka Bears 3-1 to take home the bright green banner that now hangs in the Meridian Credit Union arena near the scoreboard. 

The three losses in league play to Thorold, Fort Erie (3-1, November 12) and Port Colborne (3-0, October 23) still stick out a bit in Neudorf’s mind, though. 

“We’ve never had back-to-back losses, which is good” he says. “A lot of it came down to preparation and being ready to play. There have been games where we’re playing a weaker team and we go through the motions a bit, making games a lot tighter than they should be. But there’s no team in our league we shouldn’t beat every time.”

The Wolves host last place Fort Erie Wednesday night then travel to Pelham to take on the third place Panthers in their last game before the International Silver Stick in Forest, Ontario on January 5 through 7.

“We’re doing a father-son game and a Christmas party on Friday, too,” laughs Neudorf. “I’ll be lacing up the skates and so will the other coaches so it will be a lot of fun. There might be one or two guys who we pulled off the power play who might want to rub me out against the boards.” 

But where they would usually take some time off before league play resumes, they have kind of a big deal coming up right after Christmas. 

“We have a heavy schedule of practices,” Neudorf explains. “About five or six of them. We need to stay on the ice, keep the legs moving. It’s obviously the holidays, and plans with their families come first. But we’re going to practice, and practice hard. We’re going to be ready.”