Wolverines cash in during trip to Reno
2021-12-05The Calumet Wolverines Senior “A” Hockey Club took their longest road trip in a long, long time (maybe ever?) and found success with a pair of wins over the Reno Ice Raiders at newly opened Reno Ice in Reno, Nevada.
Friday night the Wolverines got a quick goal from Logan Rastello to open it up, and despite the Ice Raiders tying it up the Wolverines kept the pressure on and owned a 4-1 lead after one.
Five players made their Wolverines debut in the game and looked more and more comfortable as the game went on including defensively with newcomers Nikolas Djerf and Cam Kauppinen shutting down Ice Raiders comebacks throughout the game. The Wolverines held 5-2, 6-3 and 7-3 leads before eventually finishing the game with a 7-4 victory.
Scotty Loukus had two goals and four points in the contest, Rastello had three points, Ian Carroll made 43 saves as the Wolverines outshot the Ice Raiders 47-31. The game finished with some intense physical play as Garrett Parker riled up the squad with his first career fight.
That intensity continued Saturday night and the scoring did two as the Wolverines again scored four goals in the opening frame and were up 4-2 after one.
The Wolverines grew the lead into the third period and were up 6-2 midway through the second. The intensity then picked up with a line brawl leading to Rastello and Djerf taking five-minute fighting penalties early in the third.
Jason Carne stood strong in net despite intense pressure from the Ice Raiders who fed off their sell-out crowd to get the final score to 8-7.
Carne made 47 saves as Reno outshot Calumet 54-39. Brent Loukus had a pair of goals including the game winner on the power play in the third and Dylan Boberg had a trio of assists.
The Wolverines have a home-and-home series with the Marquette Mutineers that starts with the home opener on Friday, December 17 at the historic Calumet Colosseum.