The Sudbury Wolves were on home ice looking to entertain 3,953 excited fans and win their home opener and first game of the 2023-2024 season.
Just before the game the Sudbury Wolves named veteran David Goyette team captain for the 2023-2024 season, and a trade announcement made its way to the media, with news of the acquisition of two defencemen from the Windsor Spitfires, Nick DeAngelis and Trevor O’Dell in exchange for Conor Walton and five draft selections: a 2024 second round pick, third and sixth round selections in 2025, a second round pick in 2026 and a conditional 15th round pick in 2025.
Things weren’t looking good for the home squad early on as Nick Lardis scored his first goal of the season just 35 seconds into the game to give Brantford an early 1-0 lead.
Most of the period was quiet after, with both teams trading chances until Nick Yearwood scored his first goal of the season for Sudbury to tie the game 1-1 with just over one minute left to play in the period. That was the score after the first 10 minutes of play.
Right out of the gate, Marek Vanacker scored his first goal of the season just 2:14 into the period to give Brantford a 2-1 lead.
Just over six minutes later Chase Coughlan scored his first of the season for Sudbury to once again tie the game at 2-2.
With just under three minutes remaining in the middle frame Kocka Delic scored his first of the season for the Wolves to give Sudbury a 3-2 lead over the Brantford Bulldogs.
Under one minute later Evan Konyen gave the Wolves some insurance with his first goal of the season, giving Sudbury a 4-2 lead with one period left to play in the game.
Under five minutes into the third period Ryan Pryce scored his first goal in a Wolves uniform to increase Sudbury’s lead 5-2.
Just over halfway into the period Chase Coughlan scored his second goal of the game to seal a 6-2 win for the Sudbury Wolves.
The Wolves hit the ice again on Sunday, October 1st for an afternoon game against Northern rivals the North Bay Battalion with a scheduled start time of 2:05 p.m.
