Just 24 hours after a win on the road against the Flint Firebirds, the Sudbury Wolves were back on the ice in Saginaw, Michigan to take on the Saginaw Spirit. Final score was 4 to 3 for Saginaw.
Nate Krawchuk got the call as the starting goaltender for the Wolves while the Spirit went with Andrew Oke to start the game.
Saturday night was Saginaw’s Teddy Bear Toss, where fans would throw stuffed animals over the glass for children at Christmas when Saginaw scored their first goal.
The game was quiet with very little action until Djibril Toure finally put the puck in the net for the Wolves, scoring his 6 th of the season to give Sudbury a 1-0 lead at the 11:45 mark of the first period.
Neither goaltender saw much action in the opening period, with the shots on goal being 10- 7 for Saginaw and Toure’s goal the only goal after one period of play.
Just 2:18 into the second period Saginaw would tie the game, scoring the all important Teddy Bear Toss goal, thanks to Zayne Parekh scoring his 12th of the
season for the Spirit to tie the game at 1-1. Exactly 2 minutes later Saginaw would strike again with a goal by PJ Forgione, his 4th of the season, to put Saginaw in the lead by a score of 4-2.
Immediately after Saginaw’s second goal, Wolves Head Coach Ken MacKenzie decided to replace Krawchuk in net with Marcus Vandenberg.
At the 4:37 mark of the second, 19 seconds after the Spirit grabbed a one goal lead, Sudbury captain, and Seattle Kraken prospect, David Goyette scored his 16 th goal of the season to tie the game 2-2.
Saginaw carried the play but couldn’t find a way to score against Vandenberg until 9:05 remaining in the second period when Braden Hache scored his 6th of the season to restore Saginaw’s one goal lead, putting them on top by a score of 3-2 with one period remaining in the game.
Once again, very little happened in the third period until almost 10 minutes in when Sebastien Gervais would give the Spirit some insurance with his 3rd goal of
the season to give Saginaw a 4-2 lead.
With just over 5 minutes remaining in the third period, Evan Konyen scored his 3rd goal in 2 games, and his 14th of the season, to pull the Wolves within 1, making the score 4-3 for the Spirit.
That was as close as the Wolves would get on this night, falling to the Saginaw Spirit by a score of 4-3. After the loss, the Sudbury Wolves now hold a record of 16 wins, 11 losses, 2 overtime losses, and 1 shootout loss. This is good for a tie with the North Bay Battalion for second place in the Ontario Hockey League’s Central Division, and only one point behind the Mississauga Steelheads for 1st .
The Wolves travel to London for a Sunday afternoon game on December 17 th against the London Knights with a scheduled start time of 2:00 p.m. Afterwards,
the Wolves don’t play until after Christmas, when they are in Barrie to take on the Barrie Colts on December 28 th with a scheduled start time of 7:00 p.m.
The Wolves return home to the Sudbury Community Arena December 29 th against the North Bay Battalion with a scheduled start time of 7:05 p.m.
Super fan Robert McCarthy covers Sudbury Wolves games for Sudbury.com. Got a question for Robert? Email it to [email protected].
