The Waywayseecappo Wolverines inched that much closer to the eighth and final playoff spot on Wednesday night as they took down the Dauphin Kings 6-3 in the season series finale.
You could sense from the first five minutes of Wednesday’s contest that both teams were ready to go.
Seven minutes into the opening frame, Brandon Lawson picked off a Kings pass and made two beautiful moves before finding a streaking Conrad Phillips who made a move of his own around a Kings defender and beat Slobodzian along the ice to put the Wolverines in front, 1-0.
After some back and forth action between the two clubs, Waywayseecappo would strike twice in the next 1:38. Greg Lee tipped home a Karstin McDonald point shot past Ethan Slobodzian to give the Wolverines a two-goal lead.
Just moments later, Jake Bestul continued to stay hot on the score sheet when the puck bounced onto his stick from the stanchion. Bestul snapped one past Slobodzian to give the Wolverines a 3-0 lead by the end of the first twenty minutes.
Eight minutes into the second period, the Dauphin Kings would get on the scoreboard when Nakodan Greyeyes beat Isaac LaBelle to cut their deficit to two.
Waywayseecappo continued to use their speed and found a response of their own. At 12:41 of the second, Greg Lee scored his second of the night on a slick passing play that he put just under the bar.
The 4-1 goal would end Ethan Slobodzian’s night after allowing four goals on eleven shots. Despite the goaltending change, the Wolverines wouldn’t stop there. Doing what they do best, the penalty kill unit would score their league-leading tenth shorthanded goal of the season.
Brandon Lawson made a nice feed to Preston Seymour who would beat Bryan Landsberger on his backhand to put the Wolverines up 5-1 with 1:31 to play in the frame.
In the third period, Dauphin would cut into the Waywayseecappo lead to 5-2 when Riley Shamray walked down the left side and snapped one off the post past LaBelle.
Leading 5-2 with under seven minutes to play, the Wolverines would surrender a late goal to the Kings. Eamonn Miller would pick up a rebound and put it home to cut the Wolverines lead to 5-3.
Continuing his dominance late in the season, Jake Bestul would give the Wolverines a three-goal lead for the second time when his shot squeaked through the gear of Landsberger to put the Wolverines up, 6-3.
Waywayseecappo would get a late powerplay and the Kings would run out of time as the Wolverines would skate to a 6-3 victory over the Dauphin Kings to improve their record to 25-25-2-3 on the year.
Now six points ahead of the Winkler Flyers for the eighth and final playoff spot, Waywayseecappo can clinch with a win on Friday night in Virden and a Flyers loss to Neepawa.