Stars, Wolves skate to 4-4 tie

AJ Aquilino's two goals and an assist helped the Squirt Stars withstand a furious third period rally by the Wolves to salvage a 4-4 tie on Dec. 30.

Nolan Burch of the Wolves opened the scoring 2½ minutes into the game with an assist from Austin Abbarno.

Jimmy Kirkpatrick answered for the Stars with two first period markers, assisted by Aquilino and Christian Cretella.

Aquilino pushed the Stars lead to 3-1 by beating Wolves goalie Sam Adams on a 3 on 0 breakaway.

Aquilino later stuffed in a rebound of Justin Bystrak's shot, assisted by Heather Casselman, to extend the lead to 4-1.

Adam Teach started the Wolf comeback by scoring a power play goal with 1:42 left in the second.

Third period goals by Burch and Teach, assisted by Ryan Burns, ended the scoring.

Excellent goaltending by the Stars Christian Aichinger and the Wolves' Adams frustrated many scoring chances.

Casselman, Daniel Bounds and Steven Zaprowski contributed strong defensive play for the Stars.

The outstanding Wolves defensive pairing of Brett Baker and Abbarno limited the Stars' offensive opportunities.