Following a slow start on Friday night, the Waywayseecappo Wolverines would find their legs and get the juices flowing on their way to a third straight win in a 2-1 victory over the Selkirk Steelers.
It was the Selkirk Steelers who struck early in the first period when Josiah Vanderhooft walked down the left wing and snapped one past Isaac LaBelle’s glove to give the Steelers a 1-0 lead.
The Wolverines would find themselves in some trouble but would be able to dig themselves out of a pair of penalty kills, one which included four straight minutes of 5 on 4 after Thomas Hansell was called for an unsportsmanlike along with his initial hooking infraction.
A number of key saves from LaBelle and blocked shots from the penalty kill unit allowed the Wolverines to escape the first period down by just one goal.
After some back and forth action in the first half of the second period, the Wolverines would convert on the powerplay for the third straight game.
Conrad Phillips tucked in his 7th of the season around the pad of Zachary Bennett on the door step to knot the game at 1-1. Nick Doyle and Karstin McDonald would connect on the helpers.
Just four minutes after Phillips tied the game, Brandon Lawson took a perfect pass from Nick Doyle and fired one over the glove of Steelers netminder Bennett to give Waywayseecappo their first lead of the night at 2-1.
A Xavier Halterman fight with Wayde Johannesson would pop the top off the game in the third period. Selkirk would take a pair of retaliatory penalties and send the Wolverines to the man-advantage. Despite getting their chances, the Steelers were able to hold the Wolverines off from scoring.
Waywayseecappo would get called late and have to kill off a roughing penalty which saw Isaac LaBelle make some key stops to keep it a 2-1 game.
Selkirk would pull their goalie and apply some pressure late, but the Wolverines would stand tall and pick up a key win to claw their way to within two points of the final playoff spot after the Winkler Flyers defeated the Neepawa Natives on Friday night.
Now 19-23-2-2 on the season, the Wolverines will cap off their road trip on Saturday night in Winnipeg against the Blues at 7:00.