The Squamish Wolf Pack allowed a flood of 60 shots versus the league-leading Richmond Sockeyes at Brennan Park on Saturday (Sept. 27).Despite the onslaught, goaltender Graham Hallenbeck made sure his team improved on the 9-1 beating it received in Richmond two weeks prior. Hallenbeck saved 55 shots to hold the Sockeyes to a 5-1 victory."Hallenbeck played a great game," said coach Matt Samson. "That's a lot of shots - way too many."The Wolf Pack had a strong first period despite losing top forward Ross Pattison to a shoulder injury on his first shift. Blueliner Matt Malenstyn opened up the Squamish scoring with Hunter Nelson earning the assist.The Sockeyes potted two of their own goals in the first period as Drew Spencer and Sean Thorsteinson helped each other boost Richmond ahead 2-1. At the end of the first period, the Sockeyes led the shot clock 17-3.Richmond tallied an insurance goal about midway through the second period before Squamish had an all-out collapse in the third period. Samson could see his players' efforts sinking, he said."Whether the guys were tired or just lacked conditioning - I don't know - but we really got dominated in the third period," he said. "I was pretty disappointed in that effort."The Sockeyes went on to score two more goals while keeping the Wolf Pack contained and scrambling in their own end. Richmond outshot Squamish 23-4 in the second period and 20-7 in the third period.Squamish seemed almost completely drained of energy in the final period and that's something Samson said needs to be addressed while training for the next string of three games in four days. "We're going to mix the guys up and see if we can get anything going. Maybe make them watch a game from the press box to see if that wakes them up or just shuffle the lines around," he said, adding that he is not getting offensive performances from a lot of his top guys. Many expected goal scorers have little to no points in six games."That's unacceptable to me. They've got to step it up and as coaches we have to find the right combinations to make sure we produce some more goals."If there is a silver lining around this Wolf Pack cloud, it's that the new franchise was introduced into the league with a difficult schedule. Of the six games played so far, five have been against teams that are placed either first or second in their conferences for a bit of a trial by fire - on ice."Our schedule in definitely not getting any easier," said Samson. "But my goal is to take two if the next three games minimum."Squamish will have to get fit and fast. They take on the North Delta Devils in a "home game" in Whistler tonight (Oct. 2) before returning to Squamish to take on the Harold Brittain Conference leading Aldergrove Kodiaks at Brennan Park on Saturday (Oct. 3). They hit the road against the Delta Ice Hawks on Tuesday (Oct. 7). Meanwhile, Pattison is expected to be out for at least another two weeks with his bad shoulder. By all accounts, he should be ready when Squamish faces some of the teams closer to the bottom of the Pacific International Junior Hockey League (PIJHL).
