WOLVES 2-0 IN OPENERS

Canadian National Gardens (Thunder Bay)- The Thunder Bay Timberwolves opened up their regular season on Monday night in front of 19,434 at the Canadian National Gardens against the Niagara Falls Thunder.
-After a long summer and what seemed like a longer player introduction, the Timberwolves were eager to erase memories of their nine wins from last season.
-Things did not start off great, as the Thunder scored the first and only goal of the first period. It remained 1-0 Thunder through the first two periods.
-"We played pretty tight through forty minutes," said Thunder Bay head coach, Craig Hartsburg. "They're a physical team and the hits were there. But only holding a one goal lead, they seemed to back off a little bit with initiating the checks and focused more on plugging up the neutral zone."
-Niagara would double their lead three minutes into the third. But the Timberwolves finally answered with a rare shorthanded goal from one of their defensemen.
-Rookie, Torrey Mitchell (pictured) intercepted a Thunder pass and took the puck to the red line where he made a slick pass to Quintin Laing. Laing in turn fed a rushing Tom Preissing, who beat a diving Manny Legace. Mitchell's assist was his first CCHL point.
-Less than five minutes later, Thunder Bay's Loui Eriksson evened things out with a power play tally from Patrick Sharp and Keith Ballard.
-At 17:53, Thunder Bay native, Sharp scored the game winning goal in front of a rabid crowd.
-"To come back in the third and take this game was what we need to build on as a team," said Sharp. "As one of the new guys here, it was amazing how loud this crowd gets. I remember coming here with Wisborg last season and just being in awe at the passion. It's great to be here and home."
-Quintin Laing adding the icing to the cake with his empty netter to close out a 4-2 win for the Timberwolves. Their second Opening Night win in their two-year existence.
-"It's always nice to win that first one out of the gate," said Hartsburg. "But we won this one last year and only won eight more the rest of the season. We have to stay even keeled and focused every night."
-The Timberwolves had Tuesday night off, but play again tonight against the Quebec Remparts. The Remparts are coming to Thunder Bay with the same one days rest and a 10-2 thumping of the Hamilton Predators on Monday night.
-"They're explosive and dangerous," said captain, Keith Ballard. "Hamilton's a pretty good team, and whether they were prepared or not. Letting ten goals in is more than being unprepared. The Remparts simply outplayed them and embarrassed the Preds."
-Former Timberwolf, Dustin Byfuglien scored two goals for the Remparts in that game.
-"It looks like Buff (Byfuglien) is getting the minutes there that he couldn't get here," said Ballard. "He's obviously taking advantage of that, and our job tonight will be to try and limit his and their chances."
-3 STARS from Monday's game...
#1: Patrick Sharp (THU) - GWG & Assist
#2: Torrey Mitchell (THU) - 2 assists (1st CCHL points)
#3: Antero Niittymaki (THU) - 30 saves; THU was outshot 32-19