Otters Annihilate the Wolves
The Erie Otters devastated the Sudbury Wolves 8-2, largely in part to the six-point game by captain Dylan Strome. Along with Strome, eight other Otters had their name on the score sheet.
Sudbury drew first blood when Matt Schmalz jammed a bouncing puck behind Devin Williams. A minute later the Wolves took a penalty that allowed Kyle Maksimovich to rifle a one-timer past Troy Timpano to tie the game. At the midway point in the first the Otters took the lead when Nick Betz slammed a rebound into the back of the net. A minute and a half later Strome quickly snuck a puck past Timpano on a dish from Travis Dermott to go up 3-1. Later in the first the Wolves went on their second penalty kill of the period, but had the opposite result when Mikkel Aagaard ripped the puck past Williams to shrink the Otters lead to one. Dermott ended the first with two assists and Strome had a goal and an assist.
The Otters took it to the Wolves in the second as Betz scored his second goal of the game on a short-handed breakaway just over a minute into the period. Strome picked up another goal just two minutes later when he wristed the puck by Timpano. Moments later Jake Marchment dropped the gloves with Chad Heffernan as the physicality in the game increased. Mitchell Webb was jumped by a Wolf halfway through the period, which resulted in a Sudbury penalty for instigating. Erie converted for the second time on the power play when Taylor Raddysh deposited a goal into the Wolves net. The Otters were not finished as Strome collected another goal to secure his first hat trick of the season.
Vanya Lodnia inflated the score to 8-2 in the third period on a sweet feed from Patrick Fellows. As the final period came to a close both teams emotions started to flair up as a scrum along the Sudbury bench resulting in players from each team getting ejected for the remainder of the game.
The Otters are back on home ice Thursday when they play host to the Barrie Colts at 7 p.m. for food bank and poster giveaway night.
The Iron Worker’s Local Union No. 3 Ironmen of the game:
1) Dylan Strome, 3 goals and 3 assists
2) Nick Betz, 2 goals
3) Kyle Pettit, 2 assists
