BY SCOTT HUNTER HADDOW
The Sudbury Wolves came out guns a blazing against the Ottawa 67s Sunday afternoon, scoring fast and often for a 6-4 shoot-out win.
 |
Friday, the Wolves won the home opener 4-0 against the Erie Otters.
Wolves rookie forward, Sean Grendus led the charge Sunday, ripping two goals and adding an assist.
Grendus, 17, felt great about putting the points up on the score sheet, but felt better about his team getting the two points for the win.
"Those two points for us were huge and they're going to count down the road."
For both teams, penalties would prove costly.
The 67s opened the scoring on the powerplay at 2:41, when Pierre Mitsou loafed a shot from the point through heavy traffic that eluded Wolves goalie, Patrick Ehelechner.
Brett Connolly evened the score at 14:14 with a easy tap in from Martin Doyle. Then, just 37 seconds later Grendus found Craig Voakes open in the slot and fed him a superb pass and Voakes buried it top right shelf over a sprawling Ottawa goalie and Lively native Danny Battochio. The big line of Grendus, Zach Stortini and Craig Voakes was now awake and fired up.
The Wolves went up 3-1, when Grendus redirected a pass from Voakes at 18:01.
The Wolves were rolling, but Ottawa was far from finished.
The 67s responded with a goal from Matt Albiani at 18:16 to keep the score close.
The Wolves jumped out quickly in second period, when Bobby Chaumont stepped in over the blue line and blasted the puck by Battochio 1:22 into the period.
Ottawa then found themselves in penalty trouble. Undisciplined play resulted in a two-man advantage for the Wolves and they made no mistake with Grendus undressing
Battochio down low for his second goal of the game at 14:40 to put the Wolves up 5-2.
Wolves forward, Doyle was goaded in to dropping the mitts, but the Ottawa player skated away leaving Doyle shaking his head all the way to the sin bin.
The 67s used the opportunity to get back into the game. Mitsou unloaded a blast from the point that was redirected by Corey Locke to make it 5-3.
The third period erupted in chaos 11:17 in, when Wolves defenceman Ryan Hastings instigated a scrap with 67s Julian Talbot and laid a few solid punches to Talbot's head.
Wolves import, Stefan Blaho also got into the rough stuff dropping the gloves with David Halasz.
They grappled at centre ice for a few seconds before Blaho head butted Halasz and the referees stepped in.
The 67s closed the gap to one, when Rodney Bauman scored on the powerplay with Wolves defenceman Marc Staal in the box for high sticking.
With the score 5-4 and the 67s pressing for the tying goal, Chaumont put the icing on the cake with his second of the game at 17:26.
Chaumont felt good to score and help the team to a big win.
"I though the first game for myself I was a little sluggish, but today I came out and put a few in and the bottom line is the team got the win."
Chaumont knows what it took to beat the 67s.
"It was a team effort and everybody did their job," said Chaumont. "That's what we have to do to keep winning."
Head coach/GM, Mike Foligno liked the character the Wolves showed.
"We got down early and battled back," said Foligno.
"The effort was tremendous."
Goal scoring by committee impressed Foligno and it will be a vital key to the Wolves success this season.
"That's what it's going to take from our team to be successful is we can't have any passengers," said Foligno.
"We need everybody towing their weight."
Even though it's early in the season, the 2-0 start has the team buzzing.
"It's a good start, and good for the morale of the hockey club," said Foligno.
Ehelechner stopped 32 of 36 shots directed his way. Battochio halted 24 of 30 shots in his first career OHL game.
Ottawa was 3 for 9 on the powerplay, while the Wolves were 1 for 4.
Attendance was 2,991. Three Stars were No. 1-Grendus (Wolves), No. 2-Chaumont (Wolves), No. 3-Locke (67s).
The Wolves play the Barrie Colts this Friday, Sept. 26 at Sudbury Arena. Game time is 7:30 pm.
