BY SCOTT HUNTER HADDOW
The Northern Wolves woke up late in their game against the visiting Manitoulin Wild and blew open a tight, defensive game to cruise to a 6-2 win.
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Martin Doyle, playing in his first game with the Northern Wolves since being assigned there by the Sudbury Wolves lead the attack with two goals and an assist.
Just over four minutes into the game, Sudbury's Kyle Doherty was checked into the boards on a rather innocent looking play and fell to the ice, where he laid for 15 minutes before being removed on a stretcher. He had been knocked out cold, but would be OK.
He didn't return to the game.
As play resumed, Sudbury's goalie Paul Pidutti kept the score at zero with a pair of big saves, including one on a break away.
Doyle opened the scoring when he tipped a crisp pass from Bourgeois past the Wild's goalie Matt George to make it 1-0 at 16:17.
The Wild came out flying in the second period when Jack Rivers jammed home a puck in a goal mouth scramble on the power play to tie the game just 49 seconds into the period.
Doyle restored the lead for Sudbury on the power play when he picked up a juicy rebound and fired the puck upstairs past George to make it 2-1 at 3:26.
The Wild kept coming and just over a minute later tied the game when Larry Moniz skated in and blew the puck past Pidutti to make it 2-2 at 4:33.
The third period was all Sudbury.
Chuck Battah ripped a point shot past George on the power play at 4:36 to put the Northern Wolves up 3-2.
The Northern Wolves then exploded for three goals in under three minutes to salt the game away.
Mike Mills jumped on a defensive miscue by the Wild and buried a backhand shot past George at 11:08. It was a short-handed goal.
Tyler Mackenzie and Dan Bourgeois rounded out the scoring as the Northern Wolves.
Despite the win, Sudbury's head coach Jason Stos thought his team took the Wild too lightly.
"I think when we get into games like this, where we're above the team in the standings, we take it for granted," said Stos. "Manitoulin played a great game and we weren't ready for them. We waited until the last minute to put it away."
Stos praised the play of Pidutti.
"Pidutti played well," said Stos. "He hasn't played in four games, but he got the call and answered the bell. He came up big for us when we needed him."
Stos thought Doyle played a good game.
"Obviously you watch him out there and he's a man playing a boy's game," said Stos. "He was trying things not too many guys can get away with. He has to realize that he's got to do the simple things sometimes to."
For Doyle, it was good to come in and put some points on the board.
"It feels good to do that. You always feel great when you put points on the board and help out your team."
The loss of Doherty rallied the troops.
"Coming back into the dressing room, everybody was a little worried about Kyle's condition, but before we went out again, they told us he was going to be all right, so we just focused on the game, " said Craig Carlyle. "He's definitely a key player on this team and we need him in the line up."
Sudbury captain Brian McGarry knows his team can play better and has to.
"Overall it was a terrible game for us," said McGarry. "In the third we got some lucky goals and it was a lucky win. We have to play better defensively."
Wild head coach Stephane Soulliere liked his team's effort and knows the loss was just part of the growing pains of being a young team.
"This first 45 minutes was good," said Soulliere. We kept it tight against a good team. In the last 15 minutes we made a couple of defensive errors and Sudbury is such a good team that they were going to capitalize on them and they did. We're a young team and we're still learning."
The Northern Wolves hot the road for their next game against the Northern Michigan Black Bears. Their next home game is Wednesday, Oct. 29 against the Blind River Beavers. Game time is 7:30 pm.
Snap Shots
-McGarry was the dishing magician finishing with four assists
-Bourgeois had another solid game finishing with one goal and two assists
-Pidutti stopped 22 of 24 shots he faced
-The Northern Wolves now enjoy a four point lead over the North Bay Skyhawks in the Eastern Division.
