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James McCarthy
Northern News Services
Friday, November 21, 2008

SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE- The Yellowknife Wolfpack bantam boys' hockey team is back home from Grande Prairie, Alta. after taking part in the Grande Prairie Bantam Invitational from Nov. 14 to 16. The squad came within a eyelash of taking the title, losing in the final to the host team 4-3 in a shootout.

Yellowknife Wolfpack player Jacob Schofield, rear, shoves a Grande Prairie player along the boards during the Grande Prairie Bantam Invitational tournament. - photo courtesy of Todd Parsons

"We had the lead late in the third period, 3-2, and Grande Prairie tied the game with about four minutes to go in the third period," said head coach Dan Schofield. "We played a five-minute sudden death overtime period and then the shootout."The loss didn't disappoint too much, Schofield said, as it was still an exciting final.

"It was our first shootout loss ever," he said. "We've played in two prior shootouts and won them both. Our goaltender, Kent Nilson, let in his first-ever goal in a shootout and that was the difference."

"We lost as a team," said defenceman Ty Hand. "It was a complete team effort all weekend."The loss was part of what was otherwise a great tournament for the Wolfpack. The team sailed through the round-robin portion of the tournament, going a perfect three for three with blowout wins over Sexsmith (13-1) and High Prairie, Alta. (11-4), along with a 5-1 victory over Grande Prairie. Forward Ryan McCauley said he was surprised at how big the margins of victory were.

"We were told High Prairie had a record of seven (wins) and one (loss)," he said.

Schofield said there were plenty of encouraging signs for his team at the tournament.

"We managed to outshoot our opponents in every game and we played well as a unit," he said. "We only have eight returning players, so we're a young team. We're small and a little bit inexperienced because of some players making the jump from houseleague to rep hockey. It's a big move."

Hand said he isn't too concerned with the youth movement within the team.

"It won't have much of an effect on us," he said. "We should be able to work through it if we work hard enough."

One thing Schofield noticed was the fatigue setting in as the tournament progressed, but he said it came from travel and the length of games involved.

"When you're travelling 16 hours to get to games, you can see later in the tournament how it affects the players," he said. "The legs start to get heavy because you're sitting down for so long. Certainly playing so many games in a short period of time can drain you, but for us, travel is a big thing.

"Here in Yellowknife, we play three 20-minute running time periods. In Grande Prairie, we had the same thing, but the big difference was they were stop time. Those are long games and the kids weren't used to that."

Not being on the ice during the Multiplex repairs was a drawback as well, Schofield added.

"We didn't get a lot of practice time and when you have new players, you have to be able to work on little things," he said.

The scoring attack was led by Keegan Hnatiw and Jacob Schofield, each potting seven goals. McCauley turned in one of the better solo efforts with a four-goal game against Sexsmith.

"Those guys played great all weekend, as did Colby Wallace," Hand said.

A couple of Wolfpack players will be sidelined for a bit to nurse some injuries that occurred in the tournament, Schofield said.

"Matt Miller bruised his ribs and Ryan McCauley bruised his knee, so they'll be out for about one to two weeks," he said.

McCauley had to watch the final from the team bench and said it was a hard loss.

"We just had a couple of bad bounces in the final," he said.

The next big event for the Wolfpack will be a tournament in Edmonton taking place from Dec. 27 to 30.