THOMAS STONES BUDAPEST

BUDAPEST, Hungary- The Thunder Bay Timberwolves arrived in Budepest, hoping to bring with them the same drive against Honved as they did back in Canada against the River Cities Renegades. Although ending in a tie, the Timberwolves had no business being as close to one of the CCHL's top teams as they were (6 penalty kills and outshot 42-30).

>>>In their inagural season, Budapest is somewhat of a surprise with their 5-3-0 record prior to Tuesdays game against Thunder Bay. With Henrik Sedin leading the league with 20 points in 8 games, the Timberwolves would have to live up to their league-best goals against.

>>>Things started off chippy as Budapest's Brayden Coburn drew a 2-minute minor on Marian Gaborik. Only to take the Slovak sniper into the box with him after a retaliating punch.

>>>At 14:20 in the first, David Perron and Ossi Vaananen elevated heated words into some spirited jabs. Giving the two combatents 2 minutes to cool off.

>>>Needless to say, the gameplan for both clubs in the opening period seemed to be to get under one another's skin and avoid scoring at all costs.

>>>The second period didn't provide the same abrassive game as the first. But it also didn't bring out the goals either. Not until 18:49 when Patrick Sharp capitalized on the man-advantage, putting the Timberwolves on top.

>>>Getting the feeling that Sharp's goal might be all that his team could muster, Timberwolves head coach Craig Hartsburg called in the troops and decided to control the neutral zone for the remaining 20 minutes.

>>>"For whatever reason, we're struggling putting goals behind the other goalie," said Hartsburg. "Maybe it was the jetlag, but we didn't have our legs under us to push the puck in this game."

>>>The Timberwolves would often keep four players back to bottle up the neutral zone and up the middle of the ice. The five shots on Tim Thomas (pictured) were floaters from the top of the circles.

>>>"The guys did an excellent job shutting Honved down," said Thomas. "Like they have all season, they're keeping lanes clear, blocking shots and clearing out the crease. I can't take all the credit for games like this. Our defense throws their weight around and all the guys are great at keeping the puck on their sticks and off the oppositions."

>>>The third remained scoreless for both clubs, and Thomas and the rest of the Timberwolves skated away with a 1-0 shutout.

>>>Following the game, the Timberwolves immediately took off for Austria for Thursday nights contest against the Linz Black Wings.

>>>"We're going to take the day off," said Hartsburg. "These trips over here are always tough. Before we even hit the ice. Since the guys answered the bell, I think a day to get some Christmas shopping done in Austria is in order. Come Thursday morning, it's back to business and the grind."

>>>It is also rumoured that rookie goaltender, Brian Elliott will get the start against the struggling Black Wings.

>>>"We'll decide on Thursday," said Hartsburg. "Timmy's played nine good games, and the plan was to ease Brian in on the road against a bottom team around the tenth game."

>>>At 2-6-1, Linz foots the bill in that regard. With Thunder Bay's next game after Linz to be in Bismarck. It's not likely the rookie will play then.