Ice: Squirrels 7, Wolfe Pack 4

The Squirrels won their first game of the season Sunday, overcoming another short bench to beat Wolfe Pack, 7-4.

After a scoreless first period, which included an early-game 5-on-3 penalty kill for the Squirrels, Wolfe Pack struck first, before Jon Danziger (a crash-the-net goal), Brent Machado (a controversial PP goal) and Terry Young (a tic-tac-toe passing goal) scored to give the Squirrels a 3-1 lead heading into the third period.

The Squirrels extended their lead early in the third as Ben Sumner smacked home a pass from Danziger from behind the net. Wolfe Pack scored again shortly after before Moose Cobb gave the Squirrels a 5-2 lead with about 10 minutes left.

The Squirrels, however, were tired, and Wolfe Pack knew it. It didn’t take long for them to score twice more. At 5-4, with plenty of time remaining, the Squirrels were on their heels.

Then a player on Wolfe Pack not only got called for a slash, but a spear as he was on the way to the penalty box. That gave the Squirrels a 7-minute power play, the first 5 of which wouldn’t expire due to the major.

Still desperate, Wolfe Pack put up a good fight but Danziger put them out of their misery, scoring twice down the stretch to give the Squirrels the 7-4 win.