February 7, 2016
1618
The Ripley Wolves and Tillsonburg Thunder had never faced each other in a game – regular season or otherwise – until Friday night’s opening round-robin game of the Senior ‘A’ playoffs.
It didn’t take long for the teams to become acquainted, and one can only hope these two teams face each other in a seven-game final in six weeks. Tillsonburg won the wildly entertaining game, 5-4, in overtime, after the teams traded chance-after-chance in the third period and extra frame.
The game had speed, skill, odd bounces, posts, hard hits and two fights on the same stoppage of play in the second period that seemingly came out of nowhere. It was a lot of fun for fans, and hopefully, the rest of the round-robin and Senior ‘A’ playoffs maintain this pace.
The Wolves came out of the first tied at 1-1 after the teams traded powerplay goals. Ryan Dudgeon sniped for the Wolves, assisted by Tyler McCarthy and Dylan Sayle. The Thunder jumped out to an early lead in the second period, but Ripley again responded quickly with a Drew Davidson goal, assisted by Brett Catto and Brian Stanley. Before the second was out, Tillsonburg scored a shorthanded goal but the resilient Wolves tied it up once again. This time it was Tim Dwinnell who scored.
Dwinnell then gave the Wolves the lead early in the third, with assists to Stanley and Dustin Catto who took a scary shot to the cheek early in the game but powered through to take many important defensive-zone faceoffs. Unfortunately, the Wolves couldn’t hold onto the late lead and the Thunder tied it with less than four minutes to go.
Ripley netminder Mitch Campbell faced 41 shots in the Wolves net and came up huge until a seeing-eye slapshot from the point beat the screened netminder in overtime, giving Tillsonburg the 5-4 win.
Ripley will host Milverton at 9 p.m. Friday, Feb. 12, as part of Ripley’s Winter Carnival event. The Wolves then travel to Shelburne Saturday, Feb. 13, for an 8 p.m. puck drop. They complete the round-robin schedule in Lucknow Saturday, Feb. 20, at 7:30 p.m. The top four teams from the round-robin move to the Senior ‘A’ semi-finals to begin their best-of-seven series.
Friday night, the Wolves also recognized their Wall of Fame recipients: Travis VanGaver, Russ O'Handley, Kent Liddle and Bill Cameron.
Kevin Taylor (L), president of the Ripley Wolves executive, and Mark Smith (R) Wolves head coach, honour new Wall of Fame members, Travis VanGaver, Russ O’Handley, Kent Liddle and Bill Cameron, Friday night at the Ripley Arena; photo courtesy of the Ripley Wolves
-- with information from www.ripleywolves.com
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