The Wolves dropped a 3-2 overtime loss to the
Guelph Storm Friday night, keeping the team winless in overtime
games this season. The Wolves are now 0-6-4 in extra time
games.
The loss dropped the Wolves to fourth place
in the Central Division with a record of 27-23-4-6, good for 64
points.
The loss stings even more since the Barrie
Colts won 8-5 over Oshawa and took over third place in the
Central Division with 66 points with a record of
28-21-8-2.
Just 33 seconds into the extra period,
Guelph's Ryan Callahan launched a bullet past Patrick
Ehelechner, sealing the win for the Storm.
Despite the loss, and rivals weekend results,
the Wolves are still firmly entrenched in a playoff spot in the
Eastern Conference.
Wolves head coach and general manager Mike
Foligno wasn't satisfied with just earning a point, and
expects better efforts from his squad in the future.
"The flow of the game was taken away with the
penalties and the four-on-four play," said Foligno. "A great
shot in overtime wins it for them. We haven't played well
in overtime. We gambled just a bit too much, and we don't
have the respect for a player like Callahan, who's a real
dangerous player. We did come back and earn a point.
"We lost the game, and that's unfortunate
because we want to start getting the attitude around here
that's it's going to be a tough building to play in. I
don't think we played as hard as we are capable of playing
with that hunger that we need to have every shift, and that
disappoints me more than anything else."
Foligno also wants to see his defence corps
step up their physical play down the stretch.
"I thought Alex Eaton had another good game,"
said Foligno. "He worked really hard all game. We had another
strong effort from Ben Pouliot as well. We need to get better
play out of our defence too. They need to make our opponents
pay more in front of our net. We are not using our size, and we
want teams to know we are physical."
The Wolves got off to a fast start when Adam
McQuaid blasted a loose puck past Ryan MacDonald just 41
seconds into the first period.
The Storm tied the game later in the period
when Mark O'Leary scored on the power play at 14:31.
The Storm forged ahead quickly in the second
period when Mick Okrzesik scored just 38 seconds into the
second period.
The Wolves tied things up in the third period
when Rafal Martynowski finished a sweet pass from Pouliot and
deposited the puck into the back of the net at 9:42.
It was then off to overtime, where Callahan
finished the Wolves off with his laser shot.
Wolves defenceman Ryan Hastings knows his
team has to play better hockey down the stretch to secure a
playoff position and hopefully home ice in the first
round.
"We have to all get back on the same page,"
said Hastings. "We have to focus on the same goals going into
the playoffs. It's important to get a few wins going into
the playoffs for momentum, and that will make the difference
between home ice advantage or no home ice advantage."
