The Sudbury Wolves had everything working for them on Sunday afternoon, scoring a season high eight goals on home ice to win their second consecutive game and third victory of the season in an 8-2 rout over the Peterborough Petes.
Easton Rye was the starting goaltender for the Peterborough Petes while Finn Marshall once again got the nod in goal for the Sudbury Wolves.
Not even one minute into the game, Artem Gonchar scored an unassisted goal for the Sudbury Wolves after power skating through a Petes defenseman, his first of the season, putting Sudbury in the lead by a score of 1-0.
At the 5:37 mark of the first period, with Peterborough’s Matthew Soto serving a two-minute minor penalty for interference, Sudbury native Alex Pharand scored a power play goal with a shot from the left side of Rye, his second of the season, assisted by Kieron Walton and Nathan Villeneuve, increasing the Wolves’ lead to 2-0 after the first period of play.
Just 1:17 into the second, and with the Sudbury Wolves once again on the power play with Peterborough’s Kaden McGregor serving a high sticking penalty, Walton scored on the power play for the Pack, his sixth goal of the season, assisted by Villeneuve and Luca Blonda, giving the Sudbury Wolves some insurance and a 3-0 lead.
At 2:25 into the middle frame, with Blake Gowan serving a two-minute penalty for roughing and the Wolves on yet another power play, Villeneuve fired off a slap shot and scored his third of the season from the left faceoff circle, with the assists going to Blonda and Walton, putting the Wolves firmly in control with a 4-0 lead.
With 8:10 left to play in the second period, Peterborough finally found the scoreboard with Gerry DiCunzolo’s first of the season off a tip in, assisted by Braydon McCallum and Matthew Perreault, making the score 4-1 for Sudbury.
With 6:30 remaining in the second and with Sudbury forward and captain Villeneuve in the penalty box for slashing, Chase Coughlan scored a shorthanded goal on a two-on-one break for the Wolves, assisted by Ethan Dean, restoring Sudbury’s four-goal lead to 5-1 with one period left to play in the hockey game.
Just 3:16 into the third, former Peterborough Pete Liam Ladds scored his first goal of the season and first in a Wolves uniform against his former team from just inside the offensive blue line, assisted by Alex Pharand Ethan Dean, putting Sudbury up by five by a score of 6-1.
Just under four minutes into the final period, Chase Coughlan scored his second of the game with the Petes goaltender losing sight of the puck, with the assists going to Kieron Walton and Nathan Villeneuve, further expanding the Wolves’ lead to 7-1.
With 8:22 remaining in the game, and with Braydon McCallum serving a minor penalty for a check to the head, the Petes scored a shorthanded goal with Adam Levac scoring an unassisted shorthanded goal with Finn Marshall being screened, making the score 7-2 for the Wolves.
The Wolves scored one more goal with 3:28 left in the game with Walton’s second of the game with a slap shot while mid stride, assisted by Chovan and Pharand, sealing a dominant 8-2 victory for the Sudbury Wolves over the Peterborough Petes.
The Sudbury Wolves take their record of three wins, eight regulation losses, and one overtime loss to the ice at the Sudbury Community Arena against rivals the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds, with a start time of 6 p.m. to accommodate the Toronto Blue Jays World Series game.
Super fan Robert McCarthy covers Sudbury Wolves and Sudbury Five games for Sudbury.com. Got a question for Robert? Email it to [email protected].