The Dan Savoie era got off to a rousing start as the Wadena-Deer Creek boys hockey team won two out of three games in its opening week under a new head coach.
The Wolverines opened the season with a 3-2 victory over the visiting Litchfield Dragons at the Wadena Community Center on Nov. 27.
Wolverine sophomore Brandon Wing's power play goal 45 seconds into the second period broke open a scoreless game. Wing was assisted by Dylan Carlisle and Joe Peters to give the Wolverines the brief 1-0 lead.
The Dragons rebounded to tie the game up on Zac Johnson's power play goal with 11:25 left in the period.
Carlisle's second assist of the night gave the Wolverines the lead back as he fed Trevor Ness parked on the far side for a one-timer with 7:47 remaining.
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Holding on to a one-point lead, the Wolverines' Zach Lundgren tickled the back of the net for the game-winner with 1:35 left to play in the third period. Johannes Gebler and Ness picked up assists on the play.
With 39 seconds left in the game, the Dragons added another score with an extra attacker.
Wolverine netminder Allen Uselman picked up his first win of the season, turning away 19 shots.
The momentum of winning the first game carried over Nov. 30 when the Wolverines made their annual trek north to battle Eveleth-Gilbert.
In an ugly, fight-filled game in which both teams amassed 22 penalties in the contest, the Wolverines were able to scratch out a close 3-2 victory over the Golden Bears.
Eveleth-Gilbert struck first on Erik Moe's power-play with 6:13 left in the first period.
The Wolverines rebounded to go on a scoring spree in the second period starting with Colter Pettit's unassisted power-play goal. With 6:58 left in the period, Wolverine senior forward Jimmy Iken scored and Wing added another score 40 seconds later to make it 3-1. Pettit assisted on both scores to finish with three points for the Wolverines.
Moe scored his second goal of the night with 5:55 left in the second period to pull the Golden Bears within one. Neither team was able to score in the third period.
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Tyler Muehler turned away 23 shots to pick up his first win of the season for the Wolverines.
Saturday's game against Virginia got away in a hurry as the Blue Devils went on a scoring spree, tallying four scores before the Wolverines were able to stop the bleeding.
Lundgren's unassisted goal with 37 seconds left in the second period erased the goose egg on the scoreboard for the Wolverines. Early in the third period, the Wolverines added another score from Wyatt Pettit with Iken assisting.
Blue Devils' senior forward Sean Podpesker picked up his hat trick with a late third period goal for the 5-2 final score.
Uselman (1-1) had 22 saves and Muehler added 12 more for the Wolverines in the loss.
The Wolverines (2-1) travels to Pequot Lakes today (Thursday) and Kittson Central on Saturday.
Litchfield at WDC on
Nov. 27
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Wolverines 3, Dragons 2
Litchfield 0 1 1-2
Wolverines 0 2 1-3
First Period
No scoring
Second Period
WDC-Brandon Wing (Dylan Carlisle) PPG 0:45
LIT-Zac Johnson (Jordan Lecher, Jon Barrick) PPG 5:35
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WDC-Trevor Ness (Carlisle) 9:13
Third Period
WDC-Zach Lundgren (Johannas Gebler, Ness) 15:25
LIT-Mark Coivisto (Barrick) 16:21
Shots on Goal: WDC 36, LIT 21
Goalies-Saves: WDC-Allen Uselman 10-2-7 19, LIT-Johnson 11-13-9 33
WDC at Eveleth-Gilbert on Nov. 30
Wolverines 3, Golden Bears 2
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Wolverines 0 3 0-3
Eveleth-Gilbert 1 1 0-2
First Period
EG-Erik Moe (Chris Florey, Jon Pernu) PPG 10:47
Second Period
WDC-Colter Pettit (unassisted) PPG 7:49
WDC- Jimmy Iken (Pettit) 10:02
WDC-Wing (Pettit) 10:42
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EG-Moe (Jacob Cogger, Gian Mariucci) 11:05
Third Period
No scoring
Shots on Goal: WDC 26, EG 25
Goalies-Saves: WDC-Tyler Muehler 9-8-6 23; EG-Jesse Schilling 8-5-10 23
WDC at Virginia on Dec. 1
Blue Devils 5, Wolverines 2
Wolverines 0 1 1-2
Virginia 2 2 1-5
First Period
V-Garrett Hendrickson (Josh Lundberg, Andrew Judnick) 10:35
V-Sean Podpeskar (Troy Grivette, Chris Stoks) PPG 14:12
Second Period
V-Chris Westin (unassisted) 4:46
V-Podpeskar (Stoks, Nathan Dahl) 13:53
WDC-Lundgren (unassisted) 16:23
Third Period
WDC-Wyatt Pettit (Iken) 4:14
V-Podpeskar (Brian Villa) 11:36
Shots on goal: WDC-21, V-42
Goalies-Saves W-Allen Uselman 13-9-0 22, Tyler Muehler 0-1-15 15, V-Casie Myhre 8-5-6 19
