The Sudbury Wolves showed the hometown crowd what they can do with all aspects of their game on Friday night as the Pack skated to a 7-1 win over Northern Ontario rivals the Soo Greyhounds.
With the win, the Pack holds onto third place in the Central Division, improving their record to 21 wins, 11 regulation losses and five overtime losses.
Nate Krawchuk was once again the Sudbury Wolves’ starting goaltender while Landon Miller was between the pipes for the Greyhounds.
On the power play after the Hounds’ Carson Andrew was sent to the penalty box for hooking, Kocha Delic took a pass from Alex Pharand and buried his 16th goal of the season at the 6:34 mark to give the Wolves a 1-0 lead.
Just over two minutes later, Luca Blonda took a shot from the point that found its way past Miller. Blonda’s fifth goal of the season extended Sudbury’s lead to 2-0 after the first 20 minutes of the hockey game.
Just 1:37 into the second period, the Wolves’ Noah Kohan won a faceoff in the Greyhounds zone and sent the puck back to Chase Coughlan, who sniped the puck past Miller for his 13th goal of the season, making the score 3-0 for the Sudbury Wolves.
At the 3:14 mark of the middle frame, Delic scored his second goal of the game, taking the puck from coast to coast to give the Wolves a stranglehold 4-0 lead in the hockey game.
With 10:32 to play in the second period, and with the Greyhounds on the power play, the Soo finally found their way onto the scoreboard when Noel Nordh shot a one-timer from the right faceoff circle for his eighth goal of the season making the score 4-1 for Sudbury.
With just two and a half minutes left to play in the second period, Pharand dished the puck to Kieron Walton in the slot who scored his 24th goal of the season, giving the Wolves a 5-1 lead with one period remaining in the hockey game.
At the 8:07 mark of the third period, Nordh shot the puck over the glass and received a delay of game penalty, opening an opportunity for Delic to complete his hat trick on the power play, extending Sudbury’s lead even further to 6-1.
With 5:38 left to play in the game, Ondrej Molnar took a nice pass from Walton in the high slot area and didn’t make any mistake putting the puck in the back of the net to seal a 7-1 win for the Sudbury Wolves over the Soo Greyhounds.
Delic received First Star honours in the hockey game, picking up one assist to go along with his hat trick for a four-point night.
The battle of the dogs continues on Friday night as the Niagara IceDogs come into Sudbury on Jan. 10. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. Then on Sunday, the Wolves welcome the Kingston Frontenacs to town for a 2:05 p.m. match.
Super fan Robert McCarthy covers Sudbury Wolves and Sudbury Five games for Sudbury.com. Got a question for Robert? Email it to [email protected].
