11/10 FIVE THINGS: WEDNESDAY NIGHT HOCKEY

DANBURY, CT – The Danbury Hat Tricks (1-0-0-1-0) take on the Watertown Wolves (3-1-0-0-0) for the first time this season on Wednesday night at 7 p.m. in Danbury Arena.

The Hat Tricks come into play Wednesday after a 10-day layoff. They opened their season with a regulation win and an overtime win over Port Huron on Oct. 29 and 30.

Five things to know for Wednesday’s game:

1. Hat Tricks Leadership

The Hat Tricks have named their leadership group for the season. Forward Jonny Ruiz has been named captain of the 2021-22 Hat Tricks team.

Ruiz will be joined by Aaron Atwell, Cory Anderson and Gordy Bonnel on the team’s leadership corps.

Ruiz is an experienced leader, also having served as the captain of the United States Ball Hockey team. All four players are returning to the Hat Tricks after a successful inaugural season.

“Leadership takes an entire team,” said head coach Dave MacIsaac. “But, these four players are a great group that the rest of our team believes in.”

2. Team Bonding

The Hat Tricks haven’t played since Oct. 30, when they beat the Port Huron Prowlers in overtime.

Since that game, the team has spent time building chemistry and camaraderie. The team has spent time together bowling, go-kart racing and hiking over the past week.

The bowling trip even led to a group, including captain Jonny Ruiz, to have to skate suicides after practice one day. Ruiz and his team weren’t quite as good at bowling as they are at hockey.

The Hat Tricks will take the ice Wednesday with some newly-formed chemistry. They’ll look to build even more of it on the ice.

3. Busy Week

Wednesday’s game against Watertown starts a three-game stretch over four nights for the Hat Tricks.

The team will head to Michigan on Friday and Saturday to take on the Port Huron Prowlers.

The Hat Tricks and Columbus River Dragons are the only teams that have only played twice so far this season. Every other team in the league has played four games to this point.

The Hat Tricks .833 points percentage has them in first place in the league. That will be put to the test with three games this week.

4. Leading the Way

Although it has only been two games, the Hat Tricks six goals per game are tops in the FPHL.

Danbury’s power play had a hot start in the first two games of the season, converting on three of seven attempts in the series against Port Huron.

That is a 42.9% conversion rate, which is also atop the FPHL.

5. Scouting the Wolves

Watertown has won three of its first four games of the season. The Wolves have outscored their opponents 19-15 in those four contests.

The Wolves are paced offensively by Justin MacDonald and Alexander Jmaeff. MacDonald has four goals and nine points in the first four games for Watertown, while Jmaeff has four goals and seven points.

The Hat Tricks will look to focus on stopping those two key players for Watertown.

Tickets are available for Wednesday’s game on danburyhattricks.com/tickets. The game will be streamed live on YouTube.