Mitch Metzger and Corey Way notched a pair of goals each to lead the Wellesley Applejacks to a 5-4 home win over the Ayr Centennials Nov. 12. The Jacks continued their winning ways the following night on the road against Norfolk Rebels in a 10-7 decision.
The victories improved Wellesley to 8-6, keeping them in fourth place. The Centennials fell to 6-4-2, and Norfolk remains at the bottom of the McConnell Conference with a 1-12-2 record.
Metzger opened the scoring at 7:51 into the contest against Ayr, with Rob Hinschberger and Way collecting assists, but the Centennials would score three goals within five minutes to take the lead in the period. The Jacks cut that lead by one after Hinschberger found Metzger, who scored his second of the night beating Ayr goalie Jordan Witt with wrist shot high in the right corner during a power play, as Centennial’s Jay Fried was in the box on a roughing call.
The first period ended with Ayr up 3-2.
The Jacks regained momentum in the early stages of the second period when Way, Metzger and Hinschberger connected. Hinschberger found Metzger who fed Way, who placed it high glove over Witt at 7:50.
Ayr responded when Tyler Gauthier slipped the disc pass Jacks netminder Josh Heer to regain the lead at 12:16.
The Jacks quickly responded, with Way lighting the lamp with less than three minutes to play in the second period.
With the game tied 4-4 it was any team’s game for the taking entering the third.
It would be Wellesley captain Hinschberger that ensured his team’s advantage after the second intermission. When Centennials’ forward Andrew Tapsell was sent to the box for a roughing call, the towering center pinched in from the blueline with five minutes remaining, rifling home the eventual game-winner. James Mildon and Metzger contributed the assists.
On the road the following day the Jacks dominated the Rebels, scoring four unanswered goals in the first period that saw Spencer Aspden, Way, Blair Witmer and Hinschberger all add to their totals.
The second period started with a Rebel surge when Kalbe Ford beat Jacks goalie Jordan Bauman in the opening seconds. The Jacks would retaliate with a goal from Matt Soveregn at 1:12 only to have Norfolk score 28 seconds later when Steve Parker beat Bauman. Norfolk notched another goal during the period, but that was it as the Jacks poured it on to pot four more on their way to a 9-3 lead. The period was done, but not the scoring.
After the second intermission the Rebels made a strong return to the ice, scoring four more goals but not before Mark Hamilton would score the Jacks tenth goal of the night setting up the Wellesley victory.
“We did very well this past weekend and finally scored some goals and played great as a team, especially against Ayr,” said Jacks coach Kevin Fitzpatrick. “Sunday we started out strong and just fell asleep in the third period and we were lucky that Norfolk did not manage to tie the game up. We did let up a bit but we also hit a lot of goalposts that should have gone in and the boys need to connect better but they put in a solid effort and hopefully they will continue in this direction.
We had a few players, like Way, Hinschberger and Metzger that really stepped up and did a good job for us.”
The Jacks hit the road this weekend for back-to-back games starting on Saturday against the St.George Dukes before travelling to Burford Sunday to battle the Bulldogs.
