The Orangeville Wolves Special Hockey Team traveled to Ajax recently for the Durham Dragons Friendship tournament.

The Wolves, a team of developmentally challenged athletes are in the midst of their ninth season. They play several home and home series with other area special teams mostly in the GTA each year as well as attending the annual Special Hockey International tournament. Players of any age both male and female are welcome regardless of skill level.

The team opened the tournament with a game against a high flying Newmarket club and were beaten despite putting up a strong effort.

Adam Brown and Travis Grist split the game between the pipes for Orangeville and with both making several big saves to keep the game close.

Goal scorers for the Wolves in this one were Matthew Moore with a pair and Adam Thompson and Darrin Zwicker- Johnston each with singles.

The Wolves came up against the host Durham Dragons in their second game in a very evenly matched contest that ended up in an 8-8 draw.

Wolves veteran Dougie Myers opened the scoring for the visitors with a Hull like (Bobby not Brett) wrist shot from in close. Vini Thomas sprung Myers into the open on the play with Zwicker-Johnston drawing the second helper.

The hard skating Scott Fernandes staked the Wolves to

a two goal lead off a nice rush down the left wing, Frankie Spagnolo and Kelly Hu Dong each picking up assists.

The Wolves pushed the lead to three when Hu Dong scored off of a Jason Armstrong rebound with James Mastine also picking up an assist. The Wolves kept pressing and were rewarded when Spagnolo scored from the right post, a spot he made famous long before John Tavares came along. Myers and Josh Sibley who had a particularly strong game for the Wolves picked up the assists.

Much like their beloved Maple Leafs however the Wolves couldn't seem to handle too much of a good thing and the Dragons stormed back with five of their own to open the second period to take the lead.

Fernandes tied it up quickly with his second of the game with Moore and Wolves rookie Bill Wyatt drawing the assists. Thomas then put the Wolves back out front with a hard shot from just inside the blue line from Myers and Masitne.

The teams would then continue to trade goals for the remainder of the game. Fernandes scored the final two goals for the Wolves for four on the game with Wyatt picking up two assists. Wolves rookie Bradley Thompson playing in his first tournament was strong for the team all weekend and picked up an assist on the last Fernandes goal. Thompson also made a memorable defensive play for the Wolves late in the game to preserve the tie.

Grist and Adam Thompson shared the duties between the pipes for Orangeville and both had strong games.

The Wolves next home game is Sunday, January 25th at 12:30 at the Green Rink vs. Kitchener. The team is currently fundraising for a trip to Kelowna during March break to play the only special team in Western Canada. If you would like more information on the Wolves please call Dan Stone at (519)941- 3762 or Doug Harkness at (519)843-4710.