A tight game at Sudbury Arena on March 6 ended in a narrow 3-2 loss for the Sudbury Wolves.
The Pack welcomed the Soo Greyhounds to town on Wednesday night. Marcus Vandenberg was the starting goaltender for the Sudbury Wolves while the Greyhounds went with Charlie Schenkel in goal.
The Wolves were without two key pieces in the lineup tonight as Evan Konyen and Nathan Villeneuve were serving the first of a 10- and 15-game suspension, respectively.
Although the Ontario Hockey League won’t say exactly why the players were disciplined, it said yesterday there were "concerning allegations" regarding "inappropriate game-related comments" shared on a Wolves group chat following a game between Sudbury and Barrie on Jan. 18.
You can read more on that here.
The suspensions take place for the rest of the regular season and into the playoffs.
Despite a flurry of chances from both teams in the first period, the first goal of the game wasn’t scored until there were just 51 seconds remaining in the opening period. Unfortunately, it was Greyhound forward Justin Cloutier (22nd goal of the season) who got the marker, giving the Soo a 1-0 lead after the first period of play.
The Greyhounds would increase their lead 4:45 into the second period after Justin DeZoete’s scored his fourth of the season, making it a 2-0 Greyhounds’ game.
With 7:03 remaining in the period, the Wolves would get on the scoreboard for the first time. High-scoring Dalibor Dvorsky (35 goals on the season) found the back of the net to cut the Hounds’ lead to 2-1.
With 1:40 remaining in the second, Sudbury would manage to tie it up. It was Nickel City native Zacharie Giroux (19th goal of the season) who managed to knot things up, with assistance from defenseman Noah Van Vliet.
The second period ended with the teams tied up at 2-2.
Despite the looming buzzer, the third period was quiet with very little action and zero goals from either team, so at the end of regulation and heading into overtime the teams were still deadlocked at 2-2.
The overtime period would go back and forth until just 33 seconds remained. Just when it appeared a shootout was imminent, Greyhound Gavin Hayes potted his 36th goal of the season to give the Soo Greyhounds a 3-2 victory over the Sudbury Wolves.
With the loss, the Sudbury Wolves now hold a record of 34 wins, 19 regulation losses, four overtime losses, and three shootout losses, good for first place in the Central Division, second place in the Eastern Conference and only one point behind the Brantford Bulldogs for first in the conference. The Pack sits seventh overall in the Ontario Hockey League with nine games remaining in the regular season.
The Wolves next take the ice at Sudbury Arena on Friday, March 8, for a game against former Wolves defenseman Djibril Toure and the Windsor Spitfires with puck drop scheduled for 7:05 p.m.
