The 麻豆社国产Wolfpack kicked off their 2010-11 exhibition schedule on Saturday (Aug. 28) and Sunday (Aug. 29), battling the Grandview Steelers in a home and home series but the team fell short in both contests.
Game one, which took place at the North Shore Winter Club on Saturday (Aug. 28), saw the Wolfpack come back from two goals down in the third to tie the game up only to lose in overtime after a costly giveaway by a score of 5-4.
"You could tell it was the Steelers fourth exhibition game and our first," said Wolfpack head coach Matt Samson, noting that Grandview looked very polished, especially in the first period.
"I think our guys competed well," he added.
Samson was impressed by a number of the Wolfpack players individually.
"I thought Jordan Liam looked pretty good in goal," he said. "And Marc Chabot is going to be a force in this league if he can stay healthy."
He also mentioned Jarrett and Ty Babych as two players who displayed strong leadership qualities on Saturday (Aug. 28).
The second game, which took place at the Burnaby Winter Club on Sunday (Aug. 29), saw the Wolfpack fall 6-2 but Samson said the final score wasn't really indicative of the play.
"I thought we came out pretty hard," he said. "It was a 3-2 game, then they got a late goal, an empty netter and another goal after that. It was really a two goal game."
Samson praised the work of Matt Bonin, who was slotted in at centre for the first time in his Junior B career.
"Bonin was very good at centre, especially in the defensive zone," he said. "The whole line of Bonin, Sidhu and Whitmell scored both of our goals and they seemed to work well together."
With the start of the regular season fast approaching, the Wolfpack released two players after the game on Sunday (Aug. 29) but also were made aware of the news that Trevor Kang was released by the Alberni Valley Bulldogs of the British Columbia Hockey League, meaning that he will return to the Wolfpack.
Kang, who was tied for fifth in Pacific International Junior Hockey League scoring last year while playing for the North Delta Devils, is expected to provide a lot of offensive spark for the Wolfpack.
Next up for the team is a trip to the Kootenays to take on the Princeton Posse and the Osoyoos Coyotes of the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League.
The team will take on Princeton on Thursday (Sept. 2) and Sunday (Sept. 5) in between back-to-back games on Friday (Sept. 3) and Saturday (Sept. 4) against Osoyoos.
After the games this weekend, the exhibition schedule will conclude, with the regular season starting on Saturday, September 11 when the Richmond Sockeyes travel to Brennan Park Arena for the Wolfpack's home opener.
According to Samson, the Wolfpack are still looking for volunteers and those interested are encouraged to contact the team.
