On the strength of a four goal second period the Sudbury Wolves put up their highest goal total of the season and beat the Ottawa 67’s 7-1.
“Tonight we got an opportunity to score and we actually capitalized on it and we could have had guys have some more goals too,” said Wolves Head Coach Cory Stillman.
“We played a better team game through 60 minutes and Marshall Frappier played well in net and made some big saves when we needed him too.”
Frappier stopped 27 of 28 shots to pick up his first career OHL victory against his hometown team.
“It’s definitely pretty exciting, I mean the guys in front of me made it a lot easier tonight any time you score seven goals it makes it easier on me. But definitely a big win for us and we want to keep it going this weekend,” said Frappier.
“I thought he played very well tonight, he looked strong, he looked strong in warm up and we need goaltending. Every night we’re going to need goaltending, to me he was almost the difference of the hockey game when we needed him. And then the other part is Levin and Sokolov both scored,” said Stillman.
Not only did David Levin and Dmitry Sokolov score but they put up a combined 10 points between them.
Sokolov had a hat-trick midway through the second period and ended with five points.
“Feels awesome, finally, feels so good when I can score,” said Sokolov. “It’s going to help us a lot, I think we’re going to start winning now. It’s a good win for us, we need this.”
Levin scored twice and had three assists. Their line mate, Troy Lajeunesse also finished with four assists as the Wolves kicked off a three game in three day swing with a big win.
“We’re going to play a lot of hockey here and we know that and it’s day by day for us. We look as a staff and as management is getting better every day, playing one day at a time and tonight was a step. Now it doesn’t mean much if we go and lay an egg tomorrow in Peterborough,” said Stillman.
The Wolves went 2/3 on the power play, not bad for the 17th ranked team with the man advantage coming into the game.
Reagan O’Grady and Nolan Hutcheson were the other goal scorers for the Wolves.
The lone goal scorer for the 67’s was Kody Clark, son of former Toronto Maple Leafs great Wendel Clark.
If you’re wondering, Clark and his legendary moustache were in the building.
Stillman did something odd after Kody Clark scored to make the game 5-1 Sudbury, he took a timeout.
“We had been down this road before,” said Stillman. “It’s just a matter of learning how to win and believing that we can win. We have a timeout and we come down and score, which won’t happen all the time, but you put some big guys out on the ice and a face-off in your own zone after a timeout and they played the way they were supposed too.”
The Sudbury Wolves now head out on the road for a late afternoon game against Peterborough Saturday before finishing in Oshawa on Sunday.
The Pack will take on the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds on Wednesday and Sarnia and Kingston next weekend.
It’s a busy stretch for the Wolves, but they got off to a great start.
