Less than twenty-four hours after claiming their first win of the season against the Erie Otters, the Sudbury Wolves looked to capitalize on that momentum for a second straight victory in St. Catharine’s against the Niagara IceDogs on Sunday afternoon.
This would not come to fruition, however. Despite a strong effort, the Sudbury Wolves lost by a score of 4-3.
Owen Leonard got the start in goal for the Sudbury Wolves for the second straight game, while the IceDogs went with Vladislav Yermolenko between the pipes.
Just over five minutes into the game, Ben Reisnecker scored his first goal of the season and hsi first career Ontario Hockey League goal for Niagara with a slap shot from just inside the Wolves’ zone, assisted by Kevin He and Liam Spencer, putting the IceDogs in front with a 1-0 lead.
At the 6:34 mark of the opening period, Hayden Reid for Niagara flipped the puck over the glass, resulting in a Delay of Game penalty. On the power play, at the 7:47 mark of the first, rookie Jan Chovan tipped a shot from Kieron Walton and scored his first goal of the season and his first career OHL goal, with the assists going to Kieron Walton and Artem Gonchar, tying the game up at 1-1.
With 10:41 remaining in the first period, Kevin He found the back of the net with a slap shot from the left faceoff circle for his fourth goal of the season, assisted by Artem Frolov and Grayson Tiller, giving the IceDogs the lead by a score of 2-1.
Just 21 seconds later, Sudbury once again tied the game with Hudson Chitaroni’s third goal of the season on a bad angle, with the assist going to Brayden Bennett, making the score 2-2 after a very eventful first period of play.
At the 8:20 mark of the first period, with Jacob Monks serving a minor penalty for a check to the head, Grayson Tiller put the puck in the netwith a blistering slap shot at the blue line for a short handed goal, his second goal of the season, assisted by Kevin He, giving the IceDogs a lead once again by a 3-2 score.
The Wolves carried the play for much of the middle frame, but couldn’t solve Yermolenko, and the teams went to the dressing room with the IceDogs hanging onto a 3-2 lead with one period left to play.
Just under four and a half minutes into the third and at the tail end of a power play, Wolves’ veteran forward Kieron Walton deked around several Niagara players and scored on that power play for his third goal of the season, with the lone assist going to Luca Blonda, tying the game 3-3.
With 9:19 left to play in the game, with Wolves’ Captain Nathan Villeneuve serving a minor penalty for High Sticking and a misconduct for Abuse of Official, Ryan Roobroeck scored his fourth goal of the season with a slap shot, putting the puck behind a screened Leonard, with the assists going to Ben Reisnecker and Hayden Reid, sealing a 4-3 victory for the Niagara IceDogs over the Sudbury Wolves.
With the loss, the Sudbury Wolves fall to one win, seven regulation losses, and one overtime loss on the season.
The Sudbury Wolves now have four days off before coming back home on Friday, October 17 th with a game against Northern Ontario rivals the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds, with puck drop scheduled for 7:05 p.m.