Battle of the canines sees Wolves defeat IceDogs

Sudbury beats Niagara 4-3 in OT

Chase Coughlan scored his eighth goal of the season to help the Sudbury Wolves to a 4-3 win over the Niagara IceDogs on Feb. 1 at the Meridian Centre. Terry West / OHL Images

The Sudbury Wolves were at home on Thursday night hoping to get a win against the Niagara IceDogs in front of a crowd of 3,252 fans at the Meridian Centre.

The IceDogs went with Charlie Robertson as their starting goaltender while the Wolves went with former IceDog Marcus Vandenberg.

It didn’t take long for the Wolves to score the first goal of the game, as Landon McCallum scored his 16^th goal of the season just 3:26 into the first period, giving Sudbury an early 1-0 lead.

A little more than three minutes later, Niagara tied the game thanks to Kevin He’s 22^nd goal of the season to tie the game 1-1, which is where the teams stood after the first 20 minutes of play.

Just before the five-minute mark of the second period, He would score his second goal of the game for the IceDogs to give his team a 2-1 lead.

With 10:40 remaining in the middle frame, the Wolves tied it with a goal off the stick of Chase Coughlan, his eighth of the season, to make the score 2-2 with one period left in regulation.

Less than a minute into the third period, on one of their four shots in the period, Gavin Bryant scored his 12^th goal of the season to restore Niagara’s lead at 3-2.

Quentin Musty would tie the game once again with his 24^th goal of the season with 7:42 remaining in the third period, to tie the game 3-3.

Despite the Wolves dominating the third period and outshooting Niagara 21-4, the game needed overtime to decide a winner.

That winner was decided just 1:33 into the extra frame, as Musty scored his second of the game to secure a hard fought 4-3 victory for the Sudbury Wolves.

With the win, the Sudbury Wolves hold a record of 26 wins, 14 losses, three overtime losses, and two shootout losses, good for first place in the Central Division, first place in the Eastern Conference, and third place in the entire Ontario Hockey League.

The Wolves will not have to wait long to take the ice again, as they head to Brantford on Feb. 2 to face the Bulldogs, with a scheduled start time of 7 p.m.

Super fan Robert McCarthy covers Sudbury Wolves games for Sudbury.com. Got a question for Robert? Email it to [email protected].