Wolves Take Fifth
The Sudbury Wolves road woes continued on Sunday as the Wolves dropped a 4-2 decision to the Brampton Battalion. The loss was the Wolves fifth straight loss away from friendly confines of the Sudbury arena. Rookie RAY HUETHER gave the Wolves a short-lived 1-0 lead in the final minute of the first before Brampton tied it on a breakaway effort by their captain and leading scorer BARCLAY GOODROW in the dying seconds of the first frame. Shots on goal were 12 – 12 with the Wolves going 0 for 2 on the power play.
The second period was all Brampton as the Battalion outshot the Wolves 14-5. GOODROW scored the go-ahead goal at the three minute mark of the third period on a harmless looking shot that seemed to handcuff Wolves’ rookie goaltender TAYLOR DUPUIS. BRODY SILK tied the game minutes later before the Battalion scored the game winner on the power play with two minutes remaining in the middle frame.
The Wolves had a better effort in the third period but the Battalion scored the insurance marker before the six minute mark of the period on a goal-mouth scramble. The Wolves had a late powerplay chance in the period but were stymied. The Wolves powerplay success on the road has now fallen below the 10% success mark. Shots on goal in the third period were 11-7 for Brampton. Overall the Battalion outshot the Wolves 37-24. The Wolves were 0 for 3 on the powerplay while Brampton was 1 for 2. Wolves’ rookie goaltender TAYLOR DUPUIS took the loss in goal for the Wolves and evened his win-loss record to 2-2-1.
The injury bug is beginning to bite the Wolves of late with goaltender JOEL VIENNEAU being unable to make the trip to Brampton. VIENNEAU joins defenceman MACKENZIE BRAID and forward JAKE HARRIS who both remain on the sidelines with long-term injuries. The Wolves called-up 16 year old goaltender MICHAEL MUZYKA from the Sudbury Nickel Barons Jr. A team to back-up Dupuis for Sunday’s game. MUZYKA was a 6th round draft selection of the Wolves in the 2012 OHL Draft.
The Wolves will now prepare for a two-game road trip to the southwest corner of the province when they travel to London on Friday for a rematch with the defending champion LONDON KNIGHTS. The Knights defeated the Wolves in Sudbury earlier this season by a score of 4-2. The Wolves will close-out the road trip with a visit to Sarnia on Sunday. It will be the Wolves’ first contest against the Sting this season. Both games can be heard on KFM 95.5 FM with Stew Kernan calling the live play-by-play on the official radio station of the Sudbury Wolves!
