Nothing but stars in the eyes of the hometown boys last night as the Wolves secured their sixth straight win with a 5-4 victory over Western Conference rivals, the Guelph Storm.
Strong defence by both teams got the game off to a slow start, a stalemate broken by Wolves' Drake Pilon seven minutes into the first period with a short-handed goal. Ryan Merkley followed up a few minutes later with a goal for the Storm to tie the game 1-1.
Owen Gilhula buried the rebound early in the second period giving the Wolves the upper hand. David Levin and Nolan Hutcheson caught this momentum, each scoring a goal to introduce a 4-1 lead for Sudbury.
The Storm turned up the heat in the third period, eager to return balance to the scoreboard. In no time, goals from Dmitri Samorukov, Issac Ratcliffe and Keegan Stevens tied the game 4-4. Unable to break the tie, the game was forced into overtime.
Wolves' Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen had an outstanding performance in the extra frame, shutting down every attempt the Storm made. After five minutes and no goal to break the tie, the game headed into a shootout.
Byfield, Pilon and Shane Bulitka were all big helpers in the eight-round shootout. In the end, Toropchenko was unable to match Pilon's goal leaving the Wolves to claim their sixth win. Final shots on goal were 38-23 in favour of Guelph.
The Wolves will look to extend their six-game win streak in Barrie on Thursday, when they face-off against the Colts at 7:30 p.m. The Wolves return home Friday to take on the Kitchener Rangers 7:05 p.m at the Sudbury Arena.
Fans can follow the Wolves on the road by tuning into the live play-by-play on CKLU 96.7 or by streaming it live on mixlr.com/sudburywolves.
