The Slave Lake Wolves Jr. ‘B’ hockey team made a good impression in the first two games of the season. Playing the Dawson Creek Jr. Canucks Saturday and Sunday at the Arctic Ice Centre, they showed great willingness, but not much scoring touch in 3 – 0 and 4 – 2 losses.
Sort of like the Edmonton Oilers in pre-season this year.
The Wolves started Saturday’s opener with great gusto, putting the Canucks back on their heels. But after a good first period the score was still 0 –0. In the second the momentum swung back in favour of Dawson and pretty much stayed there. “Sunday we were much more dominant in the first,” says coach Kevin Imrie. “We out-shot them 19 – 4 or something, and still couldn’t score.”
The game was very close, either tied or with one or the other team having a one-goal lead right up to the last few seconds when Dawson got their fourth.
“We were pretty much snakebit when it came to scoring goals,” says Imrie.
Michael Zinyk and Justin Dunlop scored the Slave Lake goals, both in the second period.
Imrie says a very positive sign was how ready the Wolves were to compete on Sunday. It’s something he had asked of them this year, and they responded.
“Everybody was raring to go Sunday,” he says. “That was a huge plus.”
Sanford Lamouche played both games in net for the Wolves and looked solid. Al Beaulac and Kiel Ching switched positions, Ching taking a forward spot and Beaulac dropping back to play defense. Imrie says it’s his natural position, and is “looking much more at home.”
The Wolves had 16 skaters to start their season. That’s a bit on the low side, but Imrie says the players prefer a few less bodies and more ice time and they handled it well.
The Wolves play in Grande Prairie on Friday night and take on the Fort St. John Huskies on Saturday.

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