After installing Tim Robb as the new head coach the Wellesley Applejacks made a statement with their first back-to-back wins of the season.
![Cal Jefferies slides a pass into the slot during the Applejacks’ 5-2 victory Nov. 1 over the Delhi Travellers at the Wellesley arena. [Scott Barber / The Observer]](https://www.observerxtra.com/content/images/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/post_sports_jacks.jpg)
The first victory came October 31 against a Tavistock squad that had beaten the Jacks handily in their first two meetings of the season.
The Jacks edged the Braves 4-3 in double overtime.
“It’s a great start,” Robb said. “We went into Tavistock Friday night, and I had met with a few individual players prior to practice on Wednesday last week and there was a real concern, even brought to me by (GM) Bill (Grebinski) and the management group that players weren’t being utilized. I am a four line coach and I believe that to win anything in hockey you have to be able to use your whole lineup. If you don’t, you are basically going to wear out your top guys. So in Tavistock I used four lines and when we got into overtime we had legs and they didn’t. That’s what got us the win in my opinion.”
The game started slowly for the Jacks, as they surrendered the only goal in the first period and another early in the second.
But the group bounced back with three of their own.
The first came 8:50 into the second by Taylor Doering from Cal Jefferies and Matt Schieck. Two minutes later, Tyler Seguin (Jefferies, Colton Madge) tied things up.
The game remained deadlocked until late in the final frame when Paul Morra notched an unassisted shorthanded goal.
But the Braves responded later on the power play to force overtime.
“Our top guys that were out on the ice during overtime could still skate well,” Robb said. “They still had their legs under them and they were still competing, and that’s what we need to do.”
Matt Schieck netted the winner 26 seconds into the second overtime period from Jefferies.
The next night (November 1), the Jacks looked even better, crushing the Delhi Travellers 5-2.
“I really felt that our fourth line was probably our best line of the night,” Robb said. “They controlled the zone well, they moved the puck well and all four lines contributed with goals. It makes it easy on the coach when the whole group is contributing.”
The home side got things rolling quickly, with the first three goals of the first period by Eric Heffernan (Chris Beauchesne), Blake Hetherington and Paul Morra (Parker Wood, Jake Wilkinson).
After giving up a goal to end the frame, the Jacks got one back in the second by Doering (Jefferies).
In the third, Delhi pulled within two before Reid Denstedt sealed the deal with a power play goal from Hetherington and Sean McEwan.
The wins put the Jacks’ record at 5-9-0, within sight of the fourth- through seventh-place teams in the Midwestern Junior C standings. They can improve their lot this weekend as the Jacks play a home-and-home series with the winless Travellers, first in Delhi November 7 followed by a home game Saturday at the Wellesley arena. The puck drops at 7:30 p.m.
