Wolves hold off Niagara North for first win
It was a white knuckle win, but a win nonetheless.
The Waterloo Wolves climbed ahead of Niagara North 4-0 behind a pair of goals from Alex Gritz before the Stars rallied to claw back within one midway through the third. Mitchell Hoelscher’s second goal and fourth point of the game allowed Waterloo to breathe a sigh of relief as they halted the Niagara North comeback for a 5-3 win.
“They have a lot of firepower and speed,” said Waterloo head coach Shawn Dietrich. “We were cheating on the offensive side of the puck a little too much and we got burned.”
Waterloo’s first victory saw them get on the board five times, a big positive after being held to just one goal over two losses to begin the showcase.
Hunter Holmes netted his fifth goal of the OHL Cup before third period goals less than a minute apart narrowed Waterloo’s lead to 4-3.
“We called a timeout and I thought we regained our composure after that,” Dietrich added. “Scoring to make it 5-3 was huge and it let the pressure off a little bit.”
“There were a lot of positives to our game today,” he concluded. “We moved the puck and attacked the net a lot more effectively so we’ll aim to carry that into our game against the Jr. Canadiens.”
Mitchell Hoelscher’s two goals and two assists earned him Waterloo Player of the Game honours while Spencer Kersten chipped in with three assists.
The Wolves improve to 1-2-0, and prepare for a must-win game against the Toronto Jr. Canadiens on Friday.
Niagara North captain Hunter Holmes’ goal and assist increased his OHL Cup scoring lead to eight points (5-3–8) in three games.
PLAYER OF THE GAME:
Waterloo – Mitchell Hoelscher (2G, 2A)
Niagara North – Hunter Holmes (1G, 1A)
