By TERRY PUGH
Done like dinner!
The Warman U18AAA Wildcats cooked up a hefty Thanksgiving meal on home ice for their fans on Monday, October 13, roasting the visiting Tisdale Trojans 10-1.
The Wildcats relied on a recipe that spread the scoring around, with eight players finding the back of the net. During the course of the one-sided feast, the Wildcats locked up second place in the Sask Male U18AAA Hockey League (SMU18AAAHL), three points back of the Moose Jaw Winmar Warriors.
Warman’s Cruz Harrison started the party, scoring barely two minutes into the opening frame. But, the Trojans took advantage of an early power play to tie things up on a goal by Jacob Tait – the only marker that got by Wildcats’ veteran goaltender Seth Gutenberg.
From then on, it was all Warman.
Cash Arcand-Vandale scored his first of two goals midway through the first period to make it 2-1. That opened the floodgates, as Declan Borthwick scored his first of two goals shortly afterward; followed by Dawson Baht and Dade Wotherspoon lighting the lamp. At the end of the first period, Tisdale goaltender Wyatt Fleishhacker had already faced 15 shots, and the Wildcats held a comfortable 5-1 lead.
Tisdale rallied back in the second period, firing nine shots on net; none of which was able to pierce Gutenberg’s armour. At the other end of the ice, however, Cash Arcand Vandale and Declan Borthwich hit paydirt, stretching the Wildcats’ lead to 7-1 after 40 minutes.
At that point,, the shot clock showed a 22-14 advantage for Warman.
The third period saw the ice tilt even more steeply in Warman’s favour. Tisdale was barely able to manufacture a shot on net, let alone generate a badly-needed goal. The Wildcats, meanwhile, were quicker and more determined to win the puck battles along the boards, and their passes inevitably ended up right on the tape of the intended target.
Wildcat sniper Weston Kostiuk scored a short-handed marker eight minutes into the final frame; followed by an even-strength goal from Tyson Janzen and a late-period power-play goal by Cruz Bear.
Not unexpectedly, given the lopsided score, tempers boiled over a bit in the third period, leading to a parade of players in and out of the sin bin for various hockey-related minor crimes.
Both Cash Arcand-Vandale and Declan Borthwick had four point afternoons (two goals and two assists each) Dade Wotherspoon, with one goal and two assists, finished with three points.
Fleishhacker stopped 26 of 36 shots, while Seth Gutenberg turned away 15 of 16 pucks that came his way.
The Wildcats visit the Saskatoon Contacts Thursday, October 16, and host the Contacts Saturday, October 18.