Wolves Earn Split in Brampton
The Sudbury Wolves achieved their goal of winning at least one of the first two games of their Eastern Conference Quarter-final series against the Brampton Battalion.
The Wolves dropped the first game of the series by a score of 4-1 on Thursday before rebounding with a hard-fought 5-4 victory over the Battalion on Sunday afternoon in the Bunker. DOMINIK KUBALIK was the hero for the Wolves as the Czech import scored the game-winner with just over 11 minutes to play in the third period. The Wolves had to kill-off some penalties in the third period and hung on for the victory to knot their quarter-final series with the Battalion at one win each.
The series now shifts to Sudbury where the Wolves will host the Battalion on Tuesday, March 26th at 7:30 pm and Thursday, March 28th at 7:30. Tickets for HOME GAME #1 AND #2 are now on sale at the Sudbury arena ticket office. There will be a fifth game in the series at that game will be played in Brampton on Good Friday at 7:30 p.m.
Wolves 5 Brampton 4
Wolves’ rookie DOMINIK KAHUN had his offensive game in full gear on Sunday and the German import joined Wolves’ leading scorer MATHEW CAMPAGNA with two assists to lead the Wolves offensively. The Wolves jumped-out to an early 3-0 lead on the strength of three power-play goals before the six minute mark of the first period. CHARLIE DODERO scored at 2:52 and then just five seconds later, fellow overager MICHAEL KANTOR scored on a great play off of the face-off to give the Wolves a 2-0 lead. NICK BAPTISTE then scored on the power play on a great pass from CAMPAGNA to give the Wolves a commanding 3-0 lead, but, the Battalion replied shortly thereafter on a short-handed marker. The Battalion then scored a power play goal of their own before the first period came to an end to give the Wolves a 3-2 lead after one. The Wolves also hit a cross-bar and a post in the period, otherwise, the Wolves could have scored more than three in the first frame.
Wolves’ forward JACOB HARRIS restored the Wolves’ two-goal lead on a great shot from the high-slot that beat the Battalion netminder. CHAD THIBODEAU and NATHAN CULL picked up assists on the Wolves’ fourth goal, but, the Battalion battled back with two late goals to tie the score 4-4 heading into the final frame. The Battalion carried the play for the most part in the third period and outshot the Wolves 11-5, but, Wolves’ goaltender FRANKY PALAZZESE made some outstanding saves including a toe-save off of a deflection that brought the Wolves’ faithful on their feet! DOMINIK KAHUN made a great play off the offensive zone face-off and somehow fed DOMINIK KUBALIK who made no mistake on his own rebound to set the Wolves fans into a frenzy.
The Wolves had to kill-off two minor penalties in the last 8 minutes of the game to preserve the victory. Shots on goal finished 34-17 in favour of Brampton. The Wolves were 3 for 6 on the power play while the Battalion finished 2 for 6. CHARLIE DODERO was named the game’s 1st star while MATHEW CAMPAGNA was named star #3.
The Wolves lost defenceman JEFF CORBETT early in the second period as the 18-year-old suffered a head-check that didn’t get called. CORBETT left for the dressing room in the second period and didn’t return to the Wolves’ bench. The Uxbridge youngster will be assessed by team doctors on Monday and a decision will be made as to his availability for HOME GAME #1 on Tuesday.
Brampton 4 Wolves 1
The Sudbury Wolves didn’t come-out with the ‘jump’ that you might expect from a young team playing in its first play-off game. The Wolves featured some unique forward line combinations with Jake Harris joining Mathew Campagna and Nathan Pancel on one line. Nick Baptiste shifted to the Michael Kantor and Brody Silk line. The two teams played mostly a defensive style game almost afraid to make mistakes. The Battalion capitalized on an unlucky bounce of the glass that somehow landed in the feet of Wolves’ goaltender FRANKY PALAZZESE. The Wolves goaltender felt that he had it under his pad long enough to earn a face-off but the official ruled that the puck was visible and loose and the Battalion drew first-blood and took a 1-0 lead into the second period. Shots on goal in the first period were 10-3 in favour of Brampton.
The Battalion poured-it-on in the second period and outshot the Wolves again, and added two more goals to take a commanding 3-0 lead after two periods of play. The second Battalion goal was the result of a Wolves’ turnover. The Battalion scored on the power play when defencemen Dylan Blujus banked-one-in off of the goal post with a wrist-shot from the high-slot. The Wolves had a excellent chance to score in the second period when 16 year old rookie MATT SCHMALZ found himself alone in front of the net, but the puck somehow bounced-off the blade of his stick and off the goal post. The Wolves’ young forward made no-mistake at the two minute mark of the third period when the Dunnville native scored the Wolves’ first goal of the play-offs as SCHMALZ scored on a great passing play by DOMINIK KAHUN and KUBALIK. The Battalion scored once more to make it a 4-1 final. The Wolves outshot the Battalion 8-5 in the third period, but the Battalion finished the game outshooting the Wolves 27-18.
The Wolves were 0 for 2 on the power play while the Battalion were 2 for 3 with the man advantage.
Scoring Statistics
DOMINIK KAHUN leads the Wolves in scoring with three assists. DOMINIK KUBALIK has a goal and an assist while MATHEW CAMPAGNA has two helpers so far in the series.
The Battalion have out-shot the Wolves 61-35 in the two games on home ice. The Battalion have outscored the Wolves 8-6. MATT SCHMALZ leads the Wolves in the plus/minus category with a +2 rating. DYLAN BLUJUS and BARCLAY GOODROW lead the Battalion in the plus/minus department at +3. PATRIK MACHAC leads the Battalion in scoring with a goal and three assists for four points. GOODROW, BLAKE CLARKE and FRANCIS MENARD all have three points for the Battalion. The Battalion are 4 for 9 on the power play for a 44% success ratio. The Wolves are 3 for 8 on the power play for a 37% success ratio. The Battalion have allowed 6 goals on 35 shots for a save % of .828. The Wolves have allowed 8 goals on 61 shots for a save % of .869. Statistics are fun to look at but the bottom line is wins, and the Wolves will be looking to take the series lead on Tuesday night on home ice where the Wolves’ coaching staff will be able to match lines the way that they choose to with ‘last change’ on the lines.
