Wolves Clinch Rogers Eastern Conference Championship and Capture the Bobby Orr Trophy
By Brad Young
The Sudbury Community Arena was the site last night for Game 6 of the Rogers Eastern Conference Championship Series between the Sudbury Wolves and the Belleville Bulls.
The Wolves held a 3-2 series lead and were poised to close out the series in front of a capacity crowd in the Nickel City.
The Bulls jumped out to a two goal lead in the first period after goals from Eric Tangradi and Bryan Cameron. The Wolves cut the Bulls lead to one goal with less than two minutes remaining in the period on a power play goal from Kevin Baker. Marc Staal and Matt Dias were credited with the assists.
Sudbury drew even early in the second period on a goal from Nick Foligno. Patrik Lusnak and Andrew Self picked up the assists. The goal was Foligno’s ninth of the playoffs. Less than three minutes later, Belleville regained their lead on a goal from Tyler Donati. Tyler Doig and Cory Tanaka assisted Donati’s goal. The Wolves tied the game on a goal from Devin DiDiomete. Kevin Baker and Akim Aliu assisted the goal.
The third period had Wolves fans hanging at the edge of their seats as both teams created a number of scoring opportunities. However, Sebastian Dahm and Kevin Lalande kept the score even with their brilliant play in net and would force this game to overtime for the third time this series.
Fans nearly received a two-for-one deal on last night’s game as triple overtime was needed to declare a victor. Matt Dias proved to be the eventual hero for the Wolves as he netted the game-winner just over three minutes into the third overtime frame for a 4-3 victory. The goal was Sudbury’s second power play marker of the game and was assisted by Jonathan D’Aversa and Marc Staal. “Never have I scored a bigger goal,” Dias told the Sudbury Star. “When I saw the fans stand up (after the goal), then I realized, wow, this is a long time coming for the Sudbury Wolves and I’m happy to be part of it.”
The win clinched the Rogers Eastern Conference Championship Series for the Wolves, which was the first time Sudbury captured the illusive Championship. Captain Marc Staal hoisted the Bobby Orr Trophy as fans erupted with excitement.
Belleville gave everything they had on this night, not to mention the entire series and Bulls head coach George Burnett was proud of his team’s playoff run. “It’s pretty tough to ask any more from our kids,” Burnett told the Belleville Intelligencer. “To see our kids play like they did for six periods tells you a lot about our group. Our guys should be proud of how they played this season.”
The Wolves will now prepare to face the Plymouth Whalers who won the Rogers Western Conference Championship Series this past Thursday. The Rogers Conference Championship Series will get underway in Plymouth on Friday, May 4, 2007 at the Compuware Sports Arena. Game time is 7:05 p.m.
