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NHAHA Member Associations

PREMIER TEAM BEATS WIZARDS

By S. Jacobs, 01/24/16, 2:30PM EST

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In a game with huge playoff ramifications the Wolves Premier team started fast and rode the strong goaltending of Garrett Mello to a 4-3 win over the East Coast Wizards Friday night in Waterville Valley.  Zach Sullivan scored 2 goals and added an assist to increase his goal scoring streak to 3 games, and Andrew Lee added 3 assists to pace the offense for the Wolves.  Wolves captain Ryan Dunn gave the Wolves an early lead when he converted a feed from Lee at 3:10 of the opening frame.  Zach Sullivan picked up the second assist on the play by fighting through a Wizards check at the blue line and feeding Lee who found Dunn driving the net.  Sullivan made it 2-0 at 17:07 when he drove home an Andrew Lee rebound from the door step.  Jake Schultz picked up his first of 2 assists on the net when he stole the puck and made a nice feed to Lee at the top of the circle.  Sullivan made it 3-0 at 5:50 of the second when he took a feed from Lee and drilled a hard wrist shot home.  The Wizards pushed back at this point when the Wolves got into penalty trouble once again.  Garrett Mello made 3 scintillating saves to preserve the 3-0 lead, including 2 break away attempts and a point blank shot before Connor Demore brought the Wizards back to 3-1 at 9:47 picking up a puck at the top of the left face-off circle and put a wrist shot home through a screen.  Chris Peters would provide a quick answer to the Wizards goal at 10:29 when he took a perfect feed from Evan Ferraro at the goal mouth and deked around the Wizards goalie to score into the far side.  Jake Schultz also assisted on the goal.  The Wizards continued pressure on two 4 on 3 power plays but Mello was up to the task.  The Wolves defense of Trevor Mack, Justin Munck, Jake Schultz, Daniel Hall and Max Kent were immense preventing second shots, and Alfredo Lugo also moved back to help the penalty killing when the Wolves lost Max Kent after the second period and were short handed.  The Wizards continued to buzz though and cut the deficit to two on a Glen Wiswell power play goal through a screen at 17:11.  The third period was up and down fast action and the Wizards made it 4-3 on their second consecutive power play goal, but the Wolves tightened up and played a strong two way checking game to come away with the win.