The Slave Lake Wolves’ hopes for a league championship are still alive, but they’re hanging by a thread. In fact the Wolves are in exactly the same position that they had the Sexsmith Vipers in the last round. Lose a game and they’re out. Keep winning and they stay alive.
The Wolves stumbled into the 3 – 0 deficit when they lost Saturday in Game 3 of the series. Facing elimination on Sunday they pulled it back together and beat the Fort St. John Huskies by a 7 –5 score.
Saturday’s game could have turned out differently. The Wolves came out flying and put on all kinds of offensive pressure. At one point early they were outshooting the Huskies 11 – 1. But the inevitable momentum shift occurred when the Wolves took the first penalty of the game. The shots ended up even and the Huskies had the 1 – 0 lead.
The Wolves tied it up early in the second when Jordan Onufriew banged a rebound past Huskies’ goalie Troy Hunt. But that was as good as it got for the Wolves in a disastrous period. The Huskies pounced on a series of defensive errors by the Wolves and popped in four goals in just over three minutes to make it 5 – 1.
Onufriew got one back for the home team just at the end of the second.
In the third, Donovan Nicholas finished off nice passing play to bring the Wolves within two. Hometown hopes rose even further when he tipped in a shot to make it 5 – 4. But the ref ruled it no goal due to a high stick.
That was all the inspiration the Huskies needed, as they scored a couple more in quick succession, taking the wind totally out of the Wolves’ comeback attempt. The Wolves did score one more – a weird thing that caromed off the side boards and past Hunt, who was clearly paying attention to something else.
On Sunday the Wolves came out with the same intensity as they started Saturday’s game only this time it paid off. They took a 3 – 1 first period lead and led 5 – 2 after two, eventually winning 7 – 5.
T.J. Cunningham led the way with three goals. Jordan Onufriew’s third period goal turned out to be the winner. Other Wolves’ scorers were Dan Bleackley, Ryan Gleason and Donovan Nicholas. Nicholas also had three assists for a four-point game.
Game 5 is in Fort St. John on Tuesday, Mar. 18. If the Wolves win that one, Game 6 is back at the Arctic Ice Centre on Thursday night at 8:30 p.m. Game 7 is back in Fort St. John on Saturday.

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