Watertown Takes Second Straight against Carolina, 7-3

by Dillon Clark

Watertown, NY – For the second straight night, the Watertown Wolves took down the Carolina Thunderbirds despite being heavily outshot. The Wolves now hold a 4-0 lead in a season series that is halfway through.

Breandan Colgan got his second consecutive start against the Thunderbirds, while Chris Paulin made his return to the Carolina goal crease after a loan to Fayetteville (SPHL). Unlike Friday night, the first period did not go into the books scoreless. In fact, Justin MacDonald’s quick wrister past Paulin’s blocker opened the scoring just four minutes into the game. Larry Yellowknee would follow up with a goal of his own just 61 seconds later. Cameron Dimmitt’s point blast would beat Breandan Colgan to give Carolina life, but MacDonald’s second of the game snuffed out the counterattack 17 seconds later. Watertown had claimed the lead, 3-1. To finish the period, Maxime Guyon tallied his first goal as a Wolf with Jiri Pestuka in the penalty box for tripping. The Thunderbirds led 21-9 on the shot board after 20 minutes, but trailed 4-1.

Carolina came out swinging in the second, with Jacob Schnapp burying a strong wrister low to the stick side of Colgan that made it 4-2. The visitors continued to pepper Colgan, but he stood tall as the period wore on. Goals by Alexander Jmaeff and Guyon brought the deficit to 6-2 after 40 minutes of play. Through the first two periods, the Thunderbirds outshot their opponent 39-18, but trailed by four goals.

Gus Ford and Maxime Guyon traded powerplay goals in the third period. The goals didn’t impact the game much, but Guyon’s goal earned him his first hat-trick as a Wolf, and Ford’s stretched his point streak to 11 games. At the end of 60 minutes, Watertown claimed their second game of the weekend by a score of 7-3.

Watertown and Carolina will battle one final time this weekend. Sunday evening’s game is set to begin at 6:30 from the Watertown Municipal Arena.