IMPRESSIVE FIRST IMPRESSIONS

October 23, 2024

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ROOKIES ON THE BOARD

A couple of young players returned from the Wolves’ road trip with a little something extra in their luggage.

Rookies Bradly Nadeau and Scott Morrow each tallied their first professional goals during the Wolves’ scintillating 3-2 overtime victory over the Bears on Saturday night in Hershey, Penn.

The pucks from each of those goals were secured and the players now have mementos of the scores that helped the Wolves win their first game of the 2024-25 season.

The goals and overall play from two of the Carolina Hurricanes’ top prospects bode well for the Wolves this season as Nadeau and Morrow will play big roles for Chicago.

Each player provided a take on their first career American Hockey League score (see below for videos of the goals as Insider’s Impact Plays of the Week.).

NADEAU NETS ONE

Playing in his second American Hockey League game, the 19-year-old Nadeau flashed the kind of offensive skills that prompted the Carolina Hurricanes to select him in the first round (30^th overall) in the 2023 NHL Entry Draft.

In the second period of a scoreless game against the Bears, Nadeau put the Wolves out in front in a game they eventually prevailed in overtime, finishing off a terrific play that started deep in the defensive zone.

“It was fun to get the first one,” said Nadeau, who was a Hobey Baker Award finalist after scoring 19 goals in 37 games for the University of Maine in ’23-24. “(Hershey) has a good team but we played really hard and it’s fun to get the first one and then move on to other ones.”

On the score, Wolves goaltender Spencer Martin sent a stretch pass to Ryan Suzuki, who then fed Nadeau and the rookie didn’t miss, burying a shot past Bears goalie Clay Stevenson.

“It started from our D-zone and our goalie went all the way up to the other blue line and then I went to the middle and was on a short breakaway,” Nadeau said. “Their goalie gave me high glove so I just tried to put it in there higher.”

It was one of four shots on goal in the game for Nadeau, who isn’t shy to send the puck on net.

“When I’m at my best I shoot it quite a bit,” Nadeau said. “If I have a game where I’ve had a few shots on goal it’s going to be a good game for me. I work on my shot pretty much every day on the ice. In practice, you always have shots and drills but at the end of it in extra time I just try to work on different shots from different places on the ice.”

For now, Nadeau has possession of the puck from his first goal but at some point plans to add to it other memorable ones.

“I’ll probably find a place where maybe my other first-goal pucks from growing up are and add it to the collection,” he said.

MORROW’S MOMENT

The 21-year-old defenseman came up big when the Wolves needed him, notching the game-winner 3 minutes, 10 seconds into overtime when Morrow beat Bears goaltender Clay Stevenson.

The sequence began when Felix Unger Sorum made a sensational play to thwart a Bears scoring chance in the Wolves zone and ended when Morrow cashed in off a pass from Suzuki.

“We had a good offensive zone shift and (the Bears) got it out of the zone and Felix made a great play to kill their rush,” Morrow said. “Suzuki and I had a two-on-one and he made a nice play drawing the defender in. Ryan didn’t leave me much work to do—he just slid it to me on the backdoor. My teammates kind of set me up on that one. I’m grateful for them.”

Making the moment more special for Morrow is that it came in a Wolves victory.

“It was nice that it was one that let us get the win,” Morrow said. “It was our first win of the year and I was just happy we could get on the right track. It allowed me to fully embrace it. I enjoyed it that night and then the next morning when I woke up I was just focused on the next day.”

Morrow still has the puck from the goal in his possession but plans on giving it to his father, Steve, a former AHL player who coincidentally played for the Bears from 1991-93.

“He played in Hershey so I think it would be cool for me to give it to him,” Scott Morrow said.

IMPACT PLAYS OF THE WEEK

Nadeau starts the scoring:

 

Morrow ends it:

 

C.D.E. COLLISION CENTERS’ COLLISION OF THE WEEK

During the second period of Saturday night’s game in Hershey, Wolves forward Noel Gunler hammered the Bears’ Mike Vecchione.

 

SAVE OF THE WEEK

Wolves goaltender Spencer Martin came up big to stone the Bears’ Ivan Miroshnichenko on two shots from in close during the opening period Saturday night.

 

Weekly rewind (1-1-0-0)

SATURDAY, OCT. 19

Wolves 3, Bears 2 (OT): Scott Morrow scored the game-winner in overtime and Bradly Nadeau and Brendan Lemieux also had goals to lift the Wolves over the two-time defending Calder Cup champion Bears.

SUNDAY, OCT. 20

Bears 5, Wolves 0: Ethen Frank had two goals and an assist to lead the way offensively for the Bears and goaltender Hunter Shepard made 26 saves to record the shutout.

First Star of the Week

Where we stand

1-2-0-0, sixth in the Central Division.

OCTOBER SCHEDULE