The Prince Albert Timberwolves couldn’t repeat as Ron Gunville Memorial Tournament champions as they fell 6-3 in the championship game to the Sask. East Oilers on Sunday afternoon.
Timberwolves head coach Derek Simonson says that Prince Albert gave it their all, but ran into a talented opponent in the final.
“We’re a little bit injured and a little bit wounded. We don’t make excuses, but I think at the end of the day it did have a bit of effect on our energy levels and being a little bit thin we got tired towards the end. We played against a really good team, really good fast skating team, very disciplined and they deserve the win today.”
Jack Puckett (twice), Joey Zarowny, Jaydence Ironquill, Meric Poncelet and Rhett Ludba scored for the Oilers in the victory.
Nate Jensen, Sasha Zarichnyy and Kaden Petit scored for the Timberwolves.
Sask. East took a 3-2 lead after the first period and never looked back. Simonson says he liked that his team stayed in the game despite being scored on early.
“They jumped on a few opportunities and we’re able to put three pucks in the net, but we kept our nose to the grindstone and we kind of battled back. We got it to 4-3 at one point. Sometimes the difference is just one shot. Although it was 6-3, I think it was a one goal hockey game pretty well the whole way through.”
Although the Timberwolves didn’t capture the tournament crown, they still won three games throughout the weekend. Simonson says the tournament will give the Timberwolves plenty of positives moving into the remainder of their season.
“We talked about it. We didn’t win the one that we wanted to win, the A final game, but we won three games this weekend. We are going to build off of that. We talked about how many good things we did over the weekend. Guys should be proud, hold their heads high, and be ready for league play come this week. A little disappointed, but we did a lot of good things this weekend that’s going to help us out throughout the season.”
The Timberwolves return to action on Wednesday night when they take on the Saskatoon Crunch at Kinsmen Arena. Puck drops at 8:15 p.m.
