BY SCOTT
HADDOW
With Christmas just around the corner, Wolves head coach and GM
Mike Foligno would like to see his squad get an early present
in the form of three straight wins.
The Wolves play their final three games before a weeklong
holiday break.
Tonight, they face Brampton at the Sudbury Arena at 7:30 pm.
They hit the road for contests against Peterborough on Saturday
and Mississauga on Sunday.
"It would be great to finish off the first half of the season
with a clean record by winning these next three games," said
the coach. "It's a great opportunity for us to get some steam
going and get our team moving upwards. Of course, it will not
be easy...we have three tough opponents. We're playing teams
that are battling us for playoff spots...beating them would be
good for us."
Even though the Wolves are 15-13-2-2 and in third spot in the
Central Division, Foligno sees a lot of good things going.
"I like the way we're playing," said the bench boss. "The team
is playing more of a consistent game and they're playing harder
from start to finish. The boys are even capitalizing on
opportunities. We still have to minimize opponents'
chances."
The Wolves have received some decent goaltending lately, as
Kevin Beech has a 2.19 goals-against average and .935 save
percentage in his last four starts.
"I'm not questioning our goaltending right now," said Foligno.
"He knows what he has to do. Mistakes are coming from other
players to...they have to be accountable too. All our guys know
what's expected from them."
The Wolves will be without the services of defender Marc Staal
as he's attending the Team Canada World Junior camp in Calgary.
Foligno sees it as a great challenge for his club.
"It will be a good weekend for the rest of the players to show
what they're really made of with the captain out of the
lineup," said Foligno. "It's a team game and we want people to
realize that it's going to take more than not having Staal in
the lineup to bother us and knock us down."
A few players have been pleasant surprises so far.
"Akim Aliu has been building momentum over the last few weeks
and playing strong hockey," said Foligno. "Jonathan D'Aversa
has played really well, especially on offence. We real need a
player like him to help generate offence."
