Mar 30, 2025 | Dwight Irwin | 630 views
Wolves swept out of OEHL final by Minto
Another excellent regular season has ended in disappointment for the Ripley Wolves, after the Minto 81s completed their sweep on Saturday in the Ontario Elite Hockey League final.
The Wolves fell 5-3 and 5-2 on the weekend, giving an incredibly deep Minto team back-to-back OEHL championships and the opportunity to play for a spot in the Allan Cup, Canada's Senior Men's Championship. It was also the fourth time the Wolves have lost in the final over the past decade (Clinton twice and Tavistock being the others).
It was another capacity crowd on Friday night, at home for Game 3. Unfortunately, the Wolves struggled to find their footing right from puck drop, a death-knell against a skilled team like Minto. It was 4-0 before Garrett Meurs got the Wolves on the board in the middle of the second period, only to have Minto reclaim any possible momentum with their fifth and final goal just 22 seconds later.
Brett Catto and Meurs' second of the night were all the Wolves could muster as Minto played a strong shutdown game until the final buzzer. Assists went to Cody Britton, Tyler McCarthy, Todd Hellyer, Derek Skinner, and Meurs.
Jason Hamilton stopped 27 of 32 shots he faced in the loss.
That made Saturday's Game 4 in Palmerston a do-or-die for the Wolves. With a short line-up due to suspensions and injuries, the Wolves battled for their playoff lives, but ultimately fell 5-2 (two empty netters).
The Wolves fired 43 shots on Palmerston's net to 27 for the home side, which did all of its scoring (prior to empty netters) in a five-minute span in the second.
Britton set the Wolves out to a 1-0 lead in the first, with assists going to Meurs and Alex Kuntz. Meurs scored the Wolves' final goal of the season midway through the second, from Logan Swanton and Catto, but that was as close as they'd get before the 81s scored two into the empty net on their way to the title.
Jason Hamilton stopped 24 of 27 shots in the Game 4 loss.
The Ripley Wolves Executive Committee thanks the players for their hard work, dedication and sacrifice this season. These men put their health and well-being on the line every weekend and have to go to work on Monday morning. We are incredibly fortunate to have such an entertaining and exciting Senior hockey team in our small community, and that's all thanks to the players.
We also must thank our dedicated coaching staff of Mark Whalen, Wade Armstrong, Troy Loucks, and Brent Walton, as well as our training staff of Jeff Richardson and Kyle Kortegaard for their hard work and commitment this season.
Our General Managers Corey McCrae and Dustin Catto, put in incredible hours behind the scenes, recruiting and signing players, attending league meetings, creating regular season and playoff schedules, and much more. Thanks for all you do, gents.
The Executive also thanks our incredible fans and amazing sponsors who make it possible for us to ice such a strong team every year. We can't thank you all enough for showing up season after season for our team.
We must also give a shout-out to our dedicated game staff of Mike Pollock, Dave Quinn and Hugh Nichol who run the clock, do the announcing, and keep the gamesheet sorted. There's also Terri France, who works the front door at every game, our rotating crew of volunteer bartenders from the Executive, Karen Stanley for her years of design work, Mike Howes and his wife Christina for taking our social media presence to the next level, Wade Armstrong and Amy Smith for their merchandise refresh (and countless other things), and the Ripley Legion members who sell 50/50 tickets at every game. The Ripley Arena staff also do a great job week in and week out, and we appreciate all they do.
So thanks to you all for making this season another incredible success. We'll take a minute to digest this loss and come back hungry in the fall!