A Gordie Howe hattrick at a recent Wolverines game gave fans an extra reason to cheer

The Whitecourt Wolverines took on the Grande Prairie Storm on Wednesday night for a mid-week home game at the Scott Safety Centre. Three-hundred and sixty-eight fans were in the seats, eager to cheer on their team. As of Friday, January 27, with fifteen games left in the regular season, the Whitecourt Wolverines were in second place in the North AJHL standings. The Grande Prairie Storm was in seventh, with thirty points separating the division rivals.

Shortly after the 7 pm puck drop, the Wolverines had an early lead. Spencer Rheaume, assisted by Caleb MacDonald and Graham Skinner, smashed one past the Storm netminder at 2:54 of the period. Outside of three penalties, two for Whitecourt and one for the Storm, the lone goal from the home team was the only action of the period.

In the second, Wolverine Caleb MacDonald was caught tripping a Storm player and sat for two. Thankfully, his teammates kept the Storm from capitalizing on the man advantage. As if to make up for it, MacDonald scored four minutes later, thanks to Graham Skinner (his second assist of the night) and Michael Lovsin. It was now 2-0 for the Wolverines. Roughly 90 seconds later, the Storm came in with a vengeance and managed to get one past the Wolverine’s goalie Lochlan Gordon, coming within one goal of tying things up. The second ended with a score of 2-1.

In the final frame, the Wolverines knew they had to come in big. In a blink-and-you-miss-it type of moment, Wolverine Jonah Bevington sniped one right off the draw thanks to two fantastic tic-tac-toe passes from Tanner Klimpke and Michael Lovsin just seven seconds into the period, making it 3-1. The quick goal set the tone for what the next twenty minutes would be like.

Eight minutes and forty seconds later, the Whitecourt Wolverines once again had their fans cheering as they scored another, this time off the stick of Colby Browne. Matthew Sutter assisted, as did Cooper Smyl, grabbing his 28th assist of the season. The Storm managed to get one in shortly afterwards, bringing the tally to 4-2.

Just over halfway through the period, things got a little testy. Storm player Ty Toews and Wolverine Caleb MacDonald got into it and collected two major penalties. Both players received five-minute majors for fighting and ten-minute game misconducts. The offsetting penalties didn’t give one team an advantage over the other, and the game continued without issue.

With two minutes and thirty seconds remaining in the game, Wolverine Dylan Leslie, alongside Jack Franklin and Tanner Komzak, scored his eleventh goal of the season, bringing his team to five goals on the night. In the final 90 seconds, the Storm achieved a quick goal but could not climb out of the hole they found themselves in. The Wolverines took the win 5-3. Caleb MacDonald was named the Wolverine’s Star of the Game after grabbing a Gordie Howe hat trick with one goal, assist, and scuffle.

The Whitecourt Wolverines have a solid grip on second place in the North, sitting behind the Spruce Grove Saints. League-wide, the Wolverines, as of Friday, January 27, were in fourth place, two points behind the third-place Okotoks Oilers. The Blackfalds Bulldogs and the Drumheller Dragons are hot on the Wolverine’s heels, though the home squad had games in hand on both.

The next home games for the Wolverines come on Friday, February 3, against the first-place Spruce Grove Saints and Sunday, February 5, against Fort McMurray, a matinee matchup. After their home game on February 10 against Grande Prairie, the Wolverines will be taking a southern road trip to scrap it out against Camrose, Canmore, Okotoks and Calgary before returning to the Scott Safety Centre on Friday, February 24 to take on the Bonnyville Pontiacs for night one of a two-night battle.