January 7, 2009
Wild come to play in Oro-Medonte with substantial victory
The King Wild have been up-and-down this season, but they were definitely up during Saturday?s affair at the Oro-Medonte Township Community Arena.
On the strength of nine goals after the first period, the Wild defeated the 77?s 10-1, as each team were missing players from the lineup.
?It was good to see they came to play,? said Wild Head Coach Paul Hampton. ?If the score was closer I believe our guys would have continued their hard work.?
Forwards Brendan Farrugia, Tom Coukos and Matt Salituro each had a pair, while forwards Steve Wicklum, Nick Leggieri and Anthony Simone had one each. Defenceman Colin Shearing also had a goal for the Wild. The 77?s only goal came from left-winger Evan Cummings.
Also, Oro was undisciplined with King scoring seven power-play goals in the game. Josh Sinotte let in four Wild goals, while Tyler Last surrendered the other six between the pipes.
King only had six forwards and four defenders, as they were missing forwards Jon Adams (elbow), Dan Douglas and defencemen Taylor McComb (broken hand) and Alec Austin (holidays). Forward Charles DeBow get lost on the way to the Oro-Medonte area and missed the first two periods. To start the third he replaced Leggieri, who hurt his arm in the second period.
The 77?s were missing forwards Brent Belanger, Toby Kathan, Nathan Joy and defencemen Richard Blais, Jackson Cain and Kyle Harvey.
Wild goaltender Kyle Parker (11-7-2) was steady in net, stopping 31 Oro shots to earn his 11th victory of the season.
King improved to 17-10-2 for 36 points on the season and still rest at fourth place in the South Division of the Greater Metro Junior A Hockey League. They look to improve on that Sunday at the Innisfil Recreation Complex at 2:30 p.m. against the first-place Lakers (24-4-1, 49 points).
From the front office: President and General Manager Naz Marchese said the Wild would be interested in acquiring another defenceman before the Jan. 10 trade deadline, but doesn?t want to break the team?s chemistry between its forwards.
?I?ve talked to some teams about shoring up our defence, but they want Farrugia,? explained Marchese. ?I?m not sending one of my top eight forwards for a defender. I?d be happy to add another one if we can, but not at a huge cost.?
Schedule Change: Wednesday?s game against the Bradford Rattlers, scheduled for noon has been changed for Family Day (Feb. 16) at noon. There will also be other changes due to recent postponements against the Tamworth Cyclones and Ville-Marie Dragons.
Big exhibition against the Kazzinc-Torpedo
The King Wild are one of 10 teams in the Greater Metro Junior A Hockey League to play the Kazzinc-Torpedo UST-Kamenogorsk under-18 team from Kazakhstan in eight exhibition games. This circuit is meant to prepare six to eight of the players, who are candidates for Team Kazakhstan, during the under-18 World Championships in Minsk, Belarus in April.
So far Torpedo has lost, 5-4 against the South Muskoka Shield, won, 8-5, versus the Toronto Canada Moose, as well as losing 5-3 against a combo team, featuring a majority of the players from the Innisfil Lakers.
?Canada has a more physical game than in Europe or Russia,? said one of the Torpedo?s captains, defenceman Nikita Mokin, as translated by bilingual Laker forward Alex Kulikouskiy, who is originally from Belarus, so he also speaks Russian.
He spent four days with the team, touring to different places, such as Barrie and downtown Toronto.
?It was pretty nice to hear some hometown language,? said Kulikouskiy, who moved from Belarus to Sonoma, Calif., four and a half years ago.
The game is set for Saturday at Dr. William Laceby Arena and Community Centre at 8 p.m. and all tickets are $15. There are already 160 tickets purchased from Wild-player family members, as well as from the Kazakhstan community living in the Greater Toronto Area.
?I think we?ll end up with 300-350 in attendance,? stated GM Naz Marchses. ?It?s an exciting time and it can only be good. Playing an international team that potentially has players who could be drafted to the National Hockey League will be good.?
One of those may be Mokin, who is towering at six-foot, three-inches in height, weighing 194 pounds at only 16 years of age.
The game against Torpedo will also have college scouts in attendance from New York schools, Manhattanville College and Niagara University.
For more information on the game and for tickets contact (416) 251-4625, ext. 23 or Marchese at (416) 333-2005.
On the strength of nine goals after the first period, the Wild defeated the 77?s 10-1, as each team were missing players from the lineup.
?It was good to see they came to play,? said Wild Head Coach Paul Hampton. ?If the score was closer I believe our guys would have continued their hard work.?
Forwards Brendan Farrugia, Tom Coukos and Matt Salituro each had a pair, while forwards Steve Wicklum, Nick Leggieri and Anthony Simone had one each. Defenceman Colin Shearing also had a goal for the Wild. The 77?s only goal came from left-winger Evan Cummings.
Also, Oro was undisciplined with King scoring seven power-play goals in the game. Josh Sinotte let in four Wild goals, while Tyler Last surrendered the other six between the pipes.
King only had six forwards and four defenders, as they were missing forwards Jon Adams (elbow), Dan Douglas and defencemen Taylor McComb (broken hand) and Alec Austin (holidays). Forward Charles DeBow get lost on the way to the Oro-Medonte area and missed the first two periods. To start the third he replaced Leggieri, who hurt his arm in the second period.
The 77?s were missing forwards Brent Belanger, Toby Kathan, Nathan Joy and defencemen Richard Blais, Jackson Cain and Kyle Harvey.
Wild goaltender Kyle Parker (11-7-2) was steady in net, stopping 31 Oro shots to earn his 11th victory of the season.
King improved to 17-10-2 for 36 points on the season and still rest at fourth place in the South Division of the Greater Metro Junior A Hockey League. They look to improve on that Sunday at the Innisfil Recreation Complex at 2:30 p.m. against the first-place Lakers (24-4-1, 49 points).
From the front office: President and General Manager Naz Marchese said the Wild would be interested in acquiring another defenceman before the Jan. 10 trade deadline, but doesn?t want to break the team?s chemistry between its forwards.
?I?ve talked to some teams about shoring up our defence, but they want Farrugia,? explained Marchese. ?I?m not sending one of my top eight forwards for a defender. I?d be happy to add another one if we can, but not at a huge cost.?
Schedule Change: Wednesday?s game against the Bradford Rattlers, scheduled for noon has been changed for Family Day (Feb. 16) at noon. There will also be other changes due to recent postponements against the Tamworth Cyclones and Ville-Marie Dragons.
Big exhibition against the Kazzinc-Torpedo
The King Wild are one of 10 teams in the Greater Metro Junior A Hockey League to play the Kazzinc-Torpedo UST-Kamenogorsk under-18 team from Kazakhstan in eight exhibition games. This circuit is meant to prepare six to eight of the players, who are candidates for Team Kazakhstan, during the under-18 World Championships in Minsk, Belarus in April.
So far Torpedo has lost, 5-4 against the South Muskoka Shield, won, 8-5, versus the Toronto Canada Moose, as well as losing 5-3 against a combo team, featuring a majority of the players from the Innisfil Lakers.
?Canada has a more physical game than in Europe or Russia,? said one of the Torpedo?s captains, defenceman Nikita Mokin, as translated by bilingual Laker forward Alex Kulikouskiy, who is originally from Belarus, so he also speaks Russian.
He spent four days with the team, touring to different places, such as Barrie and downtown Toronto.
?It was pretty nice to hear some hometown language,? said Kulikouskiy, who moved from Belarus to Sonoma, Calif., four and a half years ago.
The game is set for Saturday at Dr. William Laceby Arena and Community Centre at 8 p.m. and all tickets are $15. There are already 160 tickets purchased from Wild-player family members, as well as from the Kazakhstan community living in the Greater Toronto Area.
?I think we?ll end up with 300-350 in attendance,? stated GM Naz Marchses. ?It?s an exciting time and it can only be good. Playing an international team that potentially has players who could be drafted to the National Hockey League will be good.?
One of those may be Mokin, who is towering at six-foot, three-inches in height, weighing 194 pounds at only 16 years of age.
The game against Torpedo will also have college scouts in attendance from New York schools, Manhattanville College and Niagara University.
For more information on the game and for tickets contact (416) 251-4625, ext. 23 or Marchese at (416) 333-2005.