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THE TALE OF THE WOLF HEAD – Chicago Wolves
May
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Following each Wolves victory, the often-raucous dressing room quiets down for the presentation of a token of appreciation from one teammate to another: A wolf head hat.
“I kind of had the idea of having a Player of the Game hat,” Wolves captain Josiah Slavin said. “We’re the Wolves so we might as well get a wolf head for it. I think it’s a pretty cool tradition that we started.
“It brings a little bit of a brotherhood and acknowledging for who stood out that game,” Slavin continued. “It brings us together, for sure.”
The player who was last awarded the hat following a win will single out a teammate he believes deserves the hat in recognition of a terrific game and that player will don the wolf head and give out a boisterous howl.
“It’s just singling a guy out for his hard work in that game,” forward Ryan Suzuki said. “It’s not necessarily the guy who scores the goals or makes the plays, it’s the guy who does the little details that go a long way toward winning hockey games. It’s a fun way to point someone out for doing something really great. Whoever wins it gives a big howl and it’s a good time.”
How does one come about obtaining a wolf head?
“I ordered it on Amazon,” Slavin said. “I just looked up ‘wolf head hat’ and it came up and I chose the coolest-looking one.”
It’s always a moment of levity after a hard-fought win, even if it does look a little goofy atop a player’s head.
“I’ve had it on,” forward Justin Robidas said. “I’m not the best-looking guy with it on but it’s fun.”
Wolves defenseman Domenick Fensore is as dangerous offensively as any player in the American Hockey League when his team is killing a penalty.
The 23-year-old Fensore leads all AHL blue-liners with three shorthanded goals and five shorthanded points this season.
Fensore said the biggest key to scoring shorthanded is “jumping in in the right spots.
“Sometimes when a team is on the power play, it kind of lets its foot off the gas a little bit and you can take advantage,” Fensore continued. “It’s being quick and reading plays. I’ve had some success this year with that.”
That success has led to huge momentum swings, including Fensore’s latest shorty when he scored late in the second period of Thursday night’s game to give the Wolves a 3-2 lead over the Manitoba Moose in an eventual 4-3 victory.
“Our kill prides itself on gaining momentum and being the backbone of our team,” Fensore said. “Lately, we’ve been doing really well (no power-pay goals allowed in five games). And it’s always nice to add some PK goals. The guys love it so hopefully we keep them coming.”
During Thursday night’s game against Manitoba at Allstate Arena, Wolves forward Austin Wagner burst through Moose defenders and beat goaltender Domenic DiVincentiis for his fifth game-winning goal this season.
Wolves defenseman Riley Stillman absolutely destroyed the Hershey Bears’ Alex Limoges with this crunching check during Saturday night’s game at Allstate Arena.
With the Wolves nursing a one-goal lead during the third period of Thursday night’s game against Manitoba, Wolves goaltender Dustin Tokarski stoned the Moose’s Brad Lambert.
Wolves 4, Moose 3: Ryan Suzuki, Ronan Seeley, Domenick Fensore and Austin Wagner scored for the Wolves, who rallied from a two-goal, first-period deficit.
Bears 5, Wolves 0: In Hershey’s first visit to Chicago since Dec. 23, 2005, Bears goaltender Hunter Shepard made 21 saves for his third shutout of the season.
Bears 5, Wolves 2: Ryan Suzuki and Aleksi Heimosalmi scored for the Wolves but the Bears prevailed to sweep the weekend series.
The 23-year-old from London, Ontario, scored goals against the Manitoba Moose on Thursday night and the Hershey Bears on Sunday.
For the season, Suzuki has eight goals and a team-leading 33 assists in 55 games.
30-25-3-0, fourth in the Central Division.
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