The Whitecourt Wolverines beat the Grande Prairie Storm 7-4 on home ice Wednesday night.
Wolverine Jake Banicevic opened the action at 2:18 with an unassisted goal for a 1-0 lead, but the Storm answered just over a minute later to tie it 1-1.
At 4:50, Grande Prairie’s Ryan Richter earned a double minor for high-sticking, putting Whitecourt on the man advantage. With eight seconds left in the power play, Banicevic scored again to make it 2-1 in Whitecourt’s favour. Jackson DeGraves and Ty Rayan assisted.
Grayson Niehaus netted Whitecourt’s next goal at 13:09, bringing it to 3-1, with the helpers going to Banicevic and Justin Pichette.
Then with 26 seconds left in the frame, DeGraves boosted the Wolverines lead to 4-1. Parker Fitzgerald and Kyle Tucker assisted.
Period two started with the Storm earning their second point at 1:47, narrowing Whitecourt’s lead to 4-2. Less than a minute later, the team scored again to make it 4-3.
Whitecourt’s Mason Russell earned back an insurance goal for the Wolverines at 18:44, with assistance from Rayan and Tristan Slywka, to end the frame with a 5-3 lead.
Grande Prairie scored once more to start the third period, narrowing the Wolverines’ lead again to 5-4.
At 5:21, the Storm went on the penalty kill due to a hooking minor. Whitecourt’s Jackson DeGraves took the chance to net a power play goal and boost the Wolverines to a two-point lead again at 6-4. Slywka and Tucker assisted.
Grande Prairie went down a player again at 16:31 following a high-sticking incident, and Ty Rayan assisted Spencer Claerhout for his second of the season in netting a final point while on the man advantage to finish the scoring at 7-4.
Wolverine goaltender Seth Brady stopped 27 of 31 shots on goal, while Storm golatender Hudson Perry stopped 26 of 33.
Next, the Wolverines travel to the Olds Sportsplex to face the Grizzlys at 7 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 25.
