The Nepean Wildcats seized control early and never looked back, cruising to a decisive 5-2 victory over the Whitby Wolves in U22 Elite action. The Wildcats' offense was firing on all cylinders, with Breanna Bray opening the scoring midway through the first period, assisted by Mallea McMullin. The momentum truly swung in Nepean's favor in a wild second period. Whitby's Alexa Strano managed to knot the game at 1-1 on the power play, but the Wildcats responded with a relentless three-goal surge. McMullin returned the favor to Bray for a goal, Carly O'Connor netted what would stand as the game-winner, and Dyllan Nicholson added a late insurance marker to make it 4-1. Whitby's Riley Pettit found the back of the net to cut the deficit before the intermission, but the damage was done.
The third period saw the Wildcats put the game firmly out of reach. Yiling Gardner scored just 25 seconds into the final frame, and Nicholson added her second of the night to seal the 5-2 final. The game was not without its physical edge, as penalties piled up in the latter half. Whitby's Kali Maechtel took a slashing call and later a roughing minor, while Nepean's Jaylee MacKinnon and Jordan Mulvihill also found themselves in the box. Despite a strong 33-shot effort from the Wolves, they could not solve Wildcats netminder Serra Yildir, who turned in a perfect performance to earn the win. For Whitby, Sarah McKechnie faced a barrage of 30 shots in the losing effort. The Wildcats' balanced attack, with seven different players registering a point, proved too much for the home side to handle on this night.
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