Despite a strong start for the Sudbury Wolves, quickly grabbing a 2-0 lead in the first period, they couldn’t hold on, dropping a 6-3 gameagainst the Erie Otters on Friday night, dropping to a record of four wins, 15 regulation losses, and one overtime loss on the season.
Charlie Burns got the start in goal for the visiting Erie Otters, while Karsen Chartier was the starting goaltender for Coach Scott Barney’s Sudbury Wolves.
Under four minutes into the first period, Sudbury’s Artem Gonchar put the Wolves in front 1-0 through a wall of Erie defenders, his third goal of the season, with Vladimir Provorov and Brayden Bennett picking up the assists.
Gonchar scored his second goal of the game 7:58 into the first with a blistering slap shot past Burns, with the assists going Jan Chovan and Brayden Bennett, giving the Sudbury Wolves a 2-0 lead.
At the 13:34 mark of the opening period, Dylan Edwards for the Otters found the back of the net with a rebound from in close for his seventh goal of the season, assisted by Tristen Trevino, cutting the Wolves’ lead to 2-1
Less than two minutes later Edwards picked up his second goal of the game with a backhand shot that made its way past Chartier, assisted by Michael Dec and Gabriel Frasca, tying the score 2-2.
Erie scored another goal nearing the end of the period, but it was disallowed due to a kicking motion, therefore the score was tied 2-2 after
a very eventful opening period of play.
At the 5:55 mark of the second, with Sudbury Wolves Captain Nathan Villeneuve serving a two minute minor penalty for Tripping, the Erie Otters took a 3-2 lead with Gabriel Frasca’s 10 th goal of the season, completing a nice passing play by Erie, assisted by Michael Dec and Tristen Trevino, which proved to be the only goal of the middle frame with one period remaining in the game.
Just 5:20 into the third, while Hudson Chitaroni for Sudbury was serving a two minute minor penalty for Interference, Gabriel Frasca took
advantage of a failed clearing attempt by the Wolves and scored his second goal of the game this one also on the power play, with the assists
going to Dylan Edwards and Garrett Frazer, giving the Otters some insurance and a 4-2 lead.
With 8:22 remaining in the game, Nathan Villeneuve scored his eighth goal of the season from the right corner, assisted by Kieron Walton and Hudson Chitaroni, bringing the Wolves to within a goal, now down by a score of 4-3.
Less than a minute later, Michael Dec for the Erie Otters scored his eighth goal of the season all alone in front of Chartier, with the loneassist going to Dylan Edwards, making the score 5-3 for Erie. Erie would add one more goal with an empty net goal from TristenTrevino to seal a 6-3 victory for the Erie Otters over the Sudbury Wolves.
The Sudbury Wolves are right back at it on Saturday, November 15 th , at home against the Saginaw Spirit with puck drop scheduled for 7:05 p.m.