The Sudbury Wolves continued to improve from their shaky start of the season, improving to a record of three wins, eight regulation losses, and one overtime loss on the season, with a victory last night over their division rivals, the Barrie Colts.
The game had a special start time of 6 p.m. in order to accommodate Game One of the Major League Baseball World Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Toronto Blue Jays, the first World Series game in Canada in 32 years. Ticket holders at the game were invited to stay at the Sudbury Community Arena, with concessions opened, to watch the Blue Jays game on the jumbotron at the conclusion of the Sudbury Wolves game.
Arvin Jaswal was the starting goaltender on the road for the Barrie Colts while the hometown Sudbury Wolves went with Finn Marshall between the pipes.
Just under six and a half minutes into the first period, with Evan Passmore for Barrie serving a two-minute minor penalty for interference, Alex Pharand scored on the power play from the high slot, his first goal of the season, with the assist going to team captain Nathan Villeneuve, giving the Wolves a 1-0 lead.
At the 8:52 mark of the opening period, Sudbury increased their lead with Kieron Walton’s fifth goal of the season after skating in right in front of Jaswal, an unassisted goal, giving Sudbury a 2-0 lead.
Under one minute later, with Wolves’ forward Kieron Walton serving a penalty for tripping, Brad Gardiner scored a power play goal from in close on Marshall for Barrie, his eighth of the season, assisted by Joe Salandra and Cole Beaudoin, making the score 2-1 for the Wolves.
With Kashawn Aitcheson serving a two-minute minor for tripping, the Sudbury Wolves increased their lead to 3-1 with a power play goal when Jan Chovan picked up a rebound and scored for Sudbury, his third of the season, assisted by Walton and Villeneuve after the first period of the hockey game.
It took until more than ten and a half minutes into the second period for another goal to be scored, when Eamon Edgar scored his first goal of the season for the Colts after picking up a Sudbury giveaway, assisted by Bode Stewart and Cole Emerton, reducing Sudbury’s lead to 3-2.
With 2:41 left to play in the middle frame and with Aitcheson serving a two-minute minor penalty for roughing, Sudbury captain and Seattle Kraken prospect Villeneuve scored his second goal of the season with a shot from the right of the Barrie netminder, with the assists going to Walton and Pharand, restoring the Wolves’ two-goal lead by a score of 4-2 with one period left to play in the hockey game.
At the 1:29 mark of the third period, Calvin Crombie scored his fourth goal of the season after the puck trickled behind Marshall, assisted by Bode Stewart and Cole Beaudoin, once again bringing the Colts to within a goal by a score of 4-3.
The Sudbury Wolves wrapped up a 5-3 win with an empty net goal from Rowan Henderson with the assists going to Pharand and Blake Clayton.
The Sudbury Wolves look for their fourth win of the season tomorrow with a game at home against the Peterborough Petes with puck drop scheduled for 2:05 p.m.
Super fan Robert McCarthy covers Sudbury Wolves and Sudbury Five games for Sudbury.com. Got a question for Robert? Email it to [email protected].