The Ice Wolves Den

Welcome to the latest edition of the Ice Wolves Den.

This past weekend the NA3HL Ice Wolves hosted the El Paso Rhinos for their home opener. Friday night started with raising the banner for winning the Regular Season South Division.

If you like high scoring games, Friday was for you. The first period was quiet, as El Paso opened the scoring late as Samuel Cook gave them the lead,, but Braeden Whitesell would quickly tie it up for the Ice Wolves and it remained deadlocked after one. The second period was more back and forth. 5:20 in Wyatt Mineheine would net his first NA3HL goal giving the Ice Wolves their first lead, but it was short lived as Kacper Gach would tie the game just over 3:00 later, but it would only take 2:08 for New Mexico to jump back on top, when Zak Wentworth scored his first of the season. No sooner did the ice crew clear the squishy wolves, when Liam McCall tied it up only 22 seconds later. But just over 3:00 later, Jake Wenner would put the Ice Wolves back on top, giving them a 4-3 lead heading into the break.

Just over a minute into the 3rd, Dantae Hunziker would give the Ice Wolves their first 2 goal lead of the game, but I’m sure you’ve already senses a theme, as only 23 seconds later Donovan Bradford would cut the lead in half. As those legendary infomercials used to say, but wait, there’s more. Just under 2:00 later Makoto Sudoh would make it a 2 goal game once again and 1:28 later Jack Arnold would make it 7-4, but El Paso refused to back down, as going with the theme just 1:42 later Derrick Pederson would trim the lead to 7-5. The scoreboard got a little break, as it took almost 6:00 for the next goal when Alex Gorley made it a 1 goal game giving the Rhinos hope. But, with 1:18 left, Brant Tiedeman would ice the game with his first career NA3HL goal, sealing the 8-6 victory.

Saturday, the Ice Wolves were hoping to make it less dramatic and they accomplished their goal opening up with a bang, when Jake Wenner scored just 2:32 into the game, followed just 22 seconds later by Cooper Annala’s first career goal. El Paso would respond at 11:58 when Donovan Bradford would bank a shot off of Jaxon Washburn’s skate, but from that point it would be all New Mexico, who added 3 goals in the second period from Carson Gotelaere, Dantae Hunziker and a second of the game from Jake Wenner.

Ice Wolves coach Darren Banks was more than pleased with the team’s effort and says discipline is a key, “I thought we improved from Friday to Saturday and it’s always nice to complete a weekend like that. El Paso is a good team, they’re well coached and have a lot of good players.” Banks continued, “You always want to stay disciplined and overall I thought we managed the games fairly well.”

For any team, goaltending is important. For the Ice Wolves, they had to replace a pair of solid net minders including the NA3HL goalie of the year Owen Zenone, but Banks always seems to find quality goaltenders, “We’ve been fortunate to have good goaltenders the past two years here and we’re very excited about the guys we have here now.” Banks said, “We’re looking forward to them progressing over the course of the season. Every position is important, but it’s extra in the net because they’re not only members of the team but by default they’re leaders just by the position they play.”

Speaking of leaders, the team announced their captains, Zak Wentworth and Carson Gotelaere will be Co-Captains, while Jack Arnold and Liam Mooney will be Assistant Captains. Banks said he left it up to the team, “Our players vote on the Captains. Zak Wentworth wore the ‘C’ with Spencer Lund last season so we named him Captain.” He said, “For the other guys they’re all veteran players, they’re 20 year olds, all looking to play college hockey and we feel like they’ve done a great job on the culture side. Not only continuing what we’ve established the last two years, but adding things. They know what it means to be an Ice Wolf.”

Liam Mooney has been out with an undisclosed injury since training camp, but Banks hopes to see him cleared soon, “Any time a player is out of the lineup we’re always looking forward to getting them back in. We’ll keep monitoring Liam and see how he progresses over the next week.

The NAHL Ice Wolves were in Blaine Minnesota this weekend for the Showcase. They fell 4-1 to the Elmira Aviators, 4-3 to the Philadelphia Rebels and 2-1 to the Austin Bruins. The NAHL Ice Wolves are on the road the entire month of October and eye 3HL Ice Wolves are off the next two weeks as Albuquerque hosts their annual Balloon Fiesta. The 3HL Ice Wolves are back home on October 18,19 and 20 taking on the Austin Ice Bats.