Wolverine’s gave fans a thrilling victory last week, complete with a Melo goal as he slid on his knees

Last week, the Whitecourt Wolverines were in action three times, once on the road and twice at home.
Here’s a recap of two of the three games. The action began in Blackfalds as the Wolverines took on the
Bulldogs at the Eagles Builders Centre on Tuesday, December 12. Wolverine’s goalie Ben Charette was in
the net for the match-up.
Twenty-five seconds into the game, fan favourite Joey Melo recorded his tenth goal of the season
thanks to assists from Travis Verbeek and Braden Keeble. For Keeble, the assist was his twentieth of the
year. After it seemed as though the Wolverines had control of the game, the Bulldogs got aggressive,
proving their bite was worse than their bark.
In less than five minutes, the Bulldogs scored not one, not two, but three unanswered goals, taking a big
3-1 lead. The Wolverines had to use their intermission break to regroup and make a plan to come back
swinging.
Nine minutes into the second, Kaiden Wiltsie scored his tenth, assisted by Nathaniel Bannister and
Jarred Feist, making the score 3-2 and pulling within one. Two minutes later, Colby Browne scored his
15th goal of the season as the Wolverines completed the comeback, tying the game 3-3.
A crazed back-and-forth third period lasted sixteen minutes as both teams worked hard to break the tie
in their favour. Unfortunately for the Wolverines, the Bulldogs were victorious in their attempt, scoring
at the sixteen-minute mark of the period and regaining their lead. The Wolverines battled and even
pulled Charette from the net for the last 44 seconds, but it wasn’t enough. Bulldogs won 4-3.
The week’s second game came on Friday night at home in JDA Place as the Wolverines hosted the
Okotoks Oilers. The Wolverines are behind the Oilers in the standings with just a handful of points
between them, so the importance of the game was evident. The Wolverines needed to win so they
could climb closer.
Ben Charette was again between the pipes and looked focused as the opening whistle sounded. Just
over a minute into the game, Wolverines fans were given a reason to cheer as Colby Browne sniped in
his 16th goal of the season, assisted by Spencer Rheaume and Jack Franklin. The Wolverines had the
lead 1-0. Just past the halfway mark, the Oilers landed one, tying things up. But the Wolverines bounced
right back and regained their lead thanks to an unassisted marker by Jack Franklin.
In the second, the game kicked up a notch with hardly any whistles. The game was back and forth and
fast. Right in the middle, Joey Melo snagged his eleventh of the year, assisted by Travis Verbeek (14th)
and Braden Keeble (22nd), making it 3-1 Wolverines. Fans were pumped!
In the third, the Oilers managed to get one past Charette, getting themselves within one, 3-2. Then,
things got interesting. An Oiler player, Allen Sherpa, took a roughing penalty at 11:36. As the referee
moved the face-off into the offensive zone, three Oilers players skipped off the ice for a line change,
which they couldn’t do. Once they noticed the change, the refs demanded that the same players come
back onto the ice, but for some reason, the Oilers team was confused about who the three were. As
players swapped out, the refs would shake their heads and point back to the bench. It took several
minutes for things to get straightened out and for the right players to return to where they should’ve

been, on the ice. The lengthy pause gave the Oilers players the break they sneakily sought in the first
place, and the refs knew it. Their faces showed their disapproval of the situation. Tricky, tricky!
Seeking to put the final nail in the coffin, the Wolverines pushed hard. Joey Melo found himself behind
the net several times, battling to tap the puck into the very side of the net. Eventually, his determination
paid off, and from his knees, after being pushed down, Melo came around the side of the net. His quick
moves tricked the goalie, who was looking the other direction, giving him an open net to push in the
puck. Wolverines won, 4-2!!
The final games of 2023 will be on the road as the Wolverines take on Lloydminster on Friday, December
29, and Bonnyville on Saturday, December 30. In the new year, the Wolverines have five games in a row
at home, starting with Drumheller on Wednesday, January 3, Sherwood Park on Friday, January 5, and
Camrose on Saturday, January 6.