David Levin was being crushed at the bottom of a pile of his own players, but he didn’t feel a thing, filled with adrenaline from scoring the overtime winner against the top team in the OHL.
The Ottawa 67s came in to Greater Sudbury with eight more points than any other team in the league and were ranked second in the CHL power rankings.
They also had not lost in regulation since the beginning of October, a stretch of 16 games.
The Wolves, who now sit in a tie for second in the Eastern Conference are on a little streak of their own, picking up points in their last seven games.
“It’s nice going in to see the things we’re doing well,” said Wolves Head Coach Cory Stillman. “There’s always correction, but now we can sit and see how we’ve been moving the puck, how we’ve been checking, how we’ve eliminated scoring chances.
“Winning is fun and it builds an atmosphere, it builds a culture … you come to the rink, you put a Wolves jersey on, and you’re expected to win and play well and play hard for 60 minutes.”
David Levin was held off the score sheet in the last three games, but came up big late in overtime, carrying the puck from his own blue-line, making a nice move on the defencemen, putting the puck top shelf over goalie Will Cranley.
“It’s just a great win,” the Israeli import said. “I’m happy I did score, but the guys are happy, the coaches are happy, so I’m happy for them too.”
It was Cranley’s six appearance in net for the 67s, something that Levin saw as a sign of disrespect.
“I’m pretty sure they were thinking they were going to beat us no problem, because they put their second goalie, their rookie goalie and that’s what happens when you do that,” said Levin.
Perhaps the biggest factor in the win was the penalty kill of the Sudbury Wolves.
They gave up one goal on an Ottawa five-on-four, but killed off two huge two-man advantages in the first and third periods.
“They were huge, they have an amazing power play over there. A couple tough calls against us but to get those five-on-three kills it really set the tone for the game five-on-five,” said winger Nolan Hutcheson.
Hutcheson had a big hand in the victory scoring twice, his sixth and seventh of the season, to lead the way for Sudbury.
“This year I came in with a lot more confidence in myself,” said Hutcheson. “If the coaches see me having confidence, then they have confidence in me, putting me out there in tough situations
Once again, Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen was solid in net, even picking up an assist on the overtime winner.
Ottawa came into the game with three players in the top 20 in OHL scoring and nine players with double-digit points.
Levin leads the team with 17 points.
“We don’t have a top 10 scorer, not a top 20 or even a top 30, but we can score by committee and it shows the depth that we are starting to have in our organization,” said Stillman.
This could be the sign fans want to see, that the Wolves are showing it doesn’t matter who they play against, they can compete.
It’s the second time they have taken Ottawa to overtime. Hutcheson said there was a big difference in the game they played Thursday from the late October game when the Wolves were outshot 49-20 in a 4-3 loss. And the D-corps played a big part of that.
“They have a similar structure to us on the offensive zone, so we were able to counter that (with defence) so they couldn’t get as many chances as they had (in October). If we play the body against them, we can limit their chances and capitalize on ours,” said Hutcheson.
Ottawa still outshot Sudbury, but just 27-26.
Quinton Byfield picked up an assist in his first game back from the 2018 Under 17 World Hockey Challenge.
Tye Felhaber and Lucas Peric picked up goals for Ottawa.
Sudbury’s weekend now consists of a two-game road swing, Friday in North Bay and Sunday in Mississauga.
