STRUGGLES CONTINUE FOR T-BAY

Canadian National Gardens (Thunder Bay)-
-To say that the Thunder Bay Timberwolves are having issues, may be putting it mildly. This isn't the same horrid team from last season. There's not the bickering and finger pointing oozing out of the dressing room and into the media. There's not a lineup filled with goons out to take out the opponents stars regardless of a win or not.
-This club is vastly different. But yet the same when it's the end of the night and another check in the loss column. Spirits are high amongst the players. But you can see in the eyes of the handful of players from last years 9-win season, that they don't want to repeat that dismal chapter in their short hockey lives.
-"From an overall perspective in this clubs progression, I definitely see we're moving in the right direction," said Owner/GM Blake Wendt. "We're a young squad. That's not an excuse to lose. But it is something one must take into account. We're playing alot closer and tighter in games. Instead of 10-2 or 9-0 losses, we're losing 5-3 or 3-2 games. Now a loss is a loss, but where we are with the development of so many young men playing regularly for us, these one-goal losses help us in the long run more than getting blown out in games and guys not caring for 1-to-2 thirds of a game. One goal games mean we're fighting to win for sixty minutes."
-The youth of the Timberwolves was on display last night at CN Gardens against the Niagara Falls Thunder. The good and the bad of having a youth-laden roster.
-Patrick Sharp opened the scoring off the opening faceoff. Taking a feed from Tom Preissing and beating Nikolai Khabibulin five-hole at the 00:06 mark of the game. His twenty sixth of the season.
-David Perron doubled the lead for the TImberwolves at 08:40. Stickhandling his way through four Niagara players and roofing a shot on Khabibulin.
-Kris Draper would cut the lead in half in the second period. But Thunder Bay would go into the third with the lead. A lead that would evaporate quickly after a "lazy penalty" from Sergei Kostitsyn as stated by the Timberwolves head coach after the game.
-With Kostitsyn still in the penalty box, David Perron used his stick for things other than putting the puck in the net. A hook as a result of losing his man in the neutral zone. Two Timberwolves players in the box. Two young players having taken two unwarranted penalties within fifteen seconds of each other.
-Niagara's Joe Corvo would score six seconds after Perron's penalty. Tying the score and clearly putting the momentum on the Thunder's side.
-Marco Sturm scored the game-winner for Niagara twenty-two seconds after Corvo.
-Both clubs would add a goal each to the final score. With the red-hot Thunder winning 4-3.
-"This game was ours to lose, and we did just that," said head coach Craig Hartsburg. "We scored first and we scored quick. That was what we went over before the game. We had to get ahead first and fast. We had the lead going into the third, and lost it within the first minute because of lazy, stupid penalties. Our penalty killing isn't getting the job done, so why put more pressure on it? We have alot of work to do. I'd say we should go back to basics, but we haven't really gone beyond that anyway."
-The Timberwolves are hoping to stop their 10-game winless slide tonight against the league-worst Southwest Scorpions at CN Gardens.