Chicago Wolves Weekly Update

Well this past week, it was the tale of two teams, the Wolves team who played the  Admirals in Milwaukee on Friday night and the final 37 minutes of Saturday’s game against the Rampage, and the Wolves team who played for the first 23 minutes against the San Antonio Rampage Saturday night. 

Friday night the Wolves played the final game of their annual circus road trip and they came away with their 2^nd consecutive 6-3 victory against the Admirals.  This was by far the most dominant game by the Wolves this season.  Darren Haydar got things started off an Admirals turnover in the first, to continue his monster season (7-12-19 through 15 games). Goals by Connauton, Longpre, Sweatt, and Duco followed in the 2^nd as the Wolves built a 5-0 lead before Milwaukee got their first tally.  Mark Mancari completed the Wolves scoring with an empty netter late in the 3^rd.  Matt Climie got the win during his 4^th consecutive start in net and saved 31-34 of the shots he faced. 

Saturday night the Wolves were welcomed home with a crowd of nearly 11,000, but it didn’t help. They looked extremely flat to start the game.  San Antonio scored 4 minutes in and kept the pressure on as they built a 3-0 lead by the end of the first period.  The Wolves opened the scoring in the 2^nd with a goal by Haydar (who else?), but San Antonio answered two minutes later to regain their three goal advantage.  This fouth goal by the Rampage seemingly woke up the Wolves and midway through the period Anton Rodin picked up his 2^nd goal of the season on a beautiful breakaway (More on that later).  Duco added a goal ten minutes into the 3^rd but that would be it for the Wolves scoring, they lost the game 4-3.  Eddie Lack got the start and was clearly rusty since he hadn’t played since November 3^rd.  To his credit, he locked it down in the 2^nd period and kept the Wolves in the game as they tried to mount a comeback.

The Rampage had just lost Michael Repik, Tim Kennedy, and top NHL goaltending prospect Jacob Markstrom, and I believe the Wolves took them lightly to start the game.  I did like the way the Wolves responded, after a 17 shot first period, they only allowed 9 shots the rest of the game. 

Player of the week – Anton Rodin – I was going to make Darren Haydar the player of the week again, after 5 points in two games, but Anton Rodin’s goal against the Rampage was so pretty, I had to make him player of the week and without further adieu…..

Next for the Wolves, a Wednesday night matchup in Texas against the Stars and then Peoria brings their high powered offense to the Allstate Arena for two games on Saturday and Sunday. 

Follow me on Twitter @ggooglyboogly for more frequent updates during the week