SUDBURY WOLVES MEDIA/ SCOUTING NOTES
Mar. 16th vs BARRIE
Tonight, the Wolves will host Central division rivals the Barrie Colts at 7:05pm as they wrap up the last regular season game on home ice. The Wolves will also be making a warm welcome to former teammate, wearing #17 for the Colts, Dmitry Sokolov prior to the game, along with overagers Kyle Rhodes and Doug Blaisdell. Between playing for both the Wolves and the Colts, Sokolov has had an outstanding regular season scoring 49 goals and managing 43 assists in 62 games. The Barrie Colts are coming off of a 5-4 overtime loss to the Ottawa 67’s Thursday night. The Wolves are looking to finish off the season at home with a win by continuing to build momentum off last Sunday’s shutout win over the Peterborough Petes.
TODAY’S MATCHUP
The Colt’s line-up features left winger Aaron Luchuk who currently leads the team in points with 113 from 49 goals and 64 assists. Luhuk joins Dmitry Sokolov at the top of the goal scoring race with 49 goals apiece. Since being acquired by the Colts, Sokolov has scored 29 goals in 27 games. Svechnikov, Suzuki, and Bignell will also give support to the Colts front end. Defenseman Joey Keane leads the Colts in plus/minus with plus 43. Keane is also amongst Luchuk, Lucas Chiodo, Dmitry Sokolov, and TJ Fergus in the top 5 for assists with 30 in 60 games under his belt. The Wolves may be challenged tonight as the Colts carry some grit on their roster with defensemen Tyler Tucker and left-winger Ben Hawerchuk leading in penalty minutes with 82 and 66.
As the season comes to a close, the Wolves are continuing to develop a strong offensive core for next season with Alexey Lipanov, Macauley Carson, Shane Bulitka, Blake Murray, and the Pilon twins, Darian and Drake. The power forwards earned themselves a number of points as of last Thursday with Murray picking up 3 points while Lipanov, Carson, and Bulitka all picked up 2. Wolves rookies are continuing to take full opportunity to showcase their talent as Blake Murray, Liam Ross and Marshall Frappier took the 3-stars of the game last Sunday against Peterborough. Murray with the third star scoring 1 goal, Ross with the second star notching in 2 goals, and Frappier claiming first star after making a total of 27 saves and recording his first OHL career shutout.
LIPANOV AND NIZHNIKOV FACE FORMER TEAM
Wolves forwards Alexey Lipanov and Kirill Nizhnikov will be seeing many familiar faces in tonight’s match-up as they face off against their former team for the second time on home ice since being acquired by the Wolves prior to the trade deadline.
SIBLING RIVALRY
Captain Kyle Rhodes will be facing off against younger brother Sam Rhodes final time on home ice as Kyle will be playing in his last home game of his OHL career. In 54 games with the Wolves, Kyle has recorded 9 goals and registered 14 assists earning a total of 23 points. Sam is finishing his first regular season in the OHL, playing 43 games the young centreman has 3 goals.
GAME NIGHT & PROMOTIONS
Tonight’s game is sponsored by Cambrian College First Generation Advising Program who will be on hand with the annual Sock Toss. The first 1000 fans will be given a pair of socks to toss into the Cambrian College Vehicle during the first intermission. One lucky winner will receive a 55-inch colour tv. All socks will be donated to the Samaritan Centre.
Don’t miss out on the pre-game ceremonies as the Wolves will be honour graduating overage players, Kyle Rhodes and Doug Blaisdell as well as former Wolf Dmitry Sokolov.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT
With the season coming to an end, the Sudbury Wolves would like to thank all members of the City of Greater Sudbury for their support throughout this season. Thank you to fans for coming out to every game to support the team, thank you to the billet families for taking in our players, thank you to the media for their support this season and thank you to the staff for all their hard work in making this season possible. Also, a special thank you to Wolves United 50/50 staff this season. We couldn’t have done it without you. We look forward to another season of exciting Wolves Hockey next season!
NEXT ROAD GAME
The Wolves will wrap up their last two regular season games on the road. Following tonight’s game, the Wolves will have a back-to-back games as they travel down to Barrie to face-off against the Colts on Saturday at 7:30pm. The Wolves will finish off their season in Oshawa against the Generals on Sunday at 6:05pm. Fans can follow the Wolves on the road in a number of different ways this season. Fans can listen to the live play by play on the radio at 96.7 CKLU or mxlr.com/sudburywolves on the Sudbury Wolves App. Both games are also scheduled to be broadcast on Eastlink TV Channel 10 and 610HD.
UPCOMING IMPORTANT DATES:
April 7th – OHL Draft
June 22nd -23rd – NHL Entry Draft
June 28th – CHL Import Draft
Stay up to date on all things Sudbury Wolves by visiting sudburywolves.com or follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram!
WOLVES SUMMER HOCKEY CAMP REGISTRATION NOW OPEN
Registration is now open for the Wolves Summer Hockey Camp for kids ages 6 to 12 which will run August 20th to 24th. The camp will now be full day and run from 9am – 4pm. Visit sudburywolvestickets.com for more information.