Struggling Sudbury loses six straight

BY SCOTT HADDOW

The Sudbury Wolves have picked the wrong time to go on a losing streak. After dropping a tough 5-3 loss to London on home ice Friday night, the Wolves fell 5-4 in shoot out to the Mississauga IceDogs on Sunday, the same team that's chasing Sudbury for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

Sudbury holds a tight five point lead now on the IceDogs for fourth in the Central Division.

The Wolves are now 0-5-0-1 in their last six games, and 3-5-0-2 in their last 10.

On Sunday, Ben Pouliot scored twice and Kevin Baker and Matt Dias added single markers as the Wolves took the IceDogs to shootout. Sudbury could find the net in shootout as Pouliot, Jonathan D'Aversa and Mark Versteeg-Lytwyn couldn't solve Mississauga's Kyle Knechtel.

IceDogs import Oskar Osala ended the game by scoring in the shootout.

Overall, the Wolves peppered Knechtel with 55 shots, but were still unable to walk away with a win.

Wolves goalie Kevin Beech was solid, stopping 27 of 31 shots fired his way.

On Friday, the Wolves went toe-to-toe with the second best team in the OHL, London, in front of 5,142 rowdy fans.

Sudbury held a 2-1 lead after the first period thanks to power play goals from Baker and Devin DiDiomete.

London scored three straight goals in the second and third periods to grab a 4-2 lead. The goals were scored by London's big three of Rob Schremp, Dylan Hunter and David Bolland.

Goalie Beech was spectacular in the second period, making numerous tough saves. Beech stoned Jordan Foreman on a penalty shot and then thwarted Hunter on a break away to keep the game close.

Beech's stops brought loud cheers of 'Beech, Beech, Beech' from the fans.

One of the Wolves latest acquisitions, forward Akim Aliu, got Sudbury back into the game when he drove the net, crashed the crease and slid the puck into the net to make it 4-3 with just under seven minutes to play.

With Beech pulled for an extra attacker, the Wolves tried to tie the game, but Schremp iced the London victory with an empty net goal at 19:09.

Again, discipline was an issue for Wolves head coach and GM Mike Foligno.

"We did some things well early in the game," said Foligno. "When we started taking some penalties...It was really hard to get out of it. It just seemed to snowball. We got penalty after penalty. They scored on two of the nine (power play chances). The fortunate part was we scored two out of five on our power play."

Foligno praised Beech's efforts.

"He was phenomenal and did an unbelievable job," said Foligno. "He covered up for a lot of mistakes. I just wish we would have supported him more with smarter play."

Foligno also weighed in on the immediate impact of the newest Wolves players, defenceman Nick Tuzzolino and forwards Aliu, Mark Versteeg-Lytwyn and Gary Friesen. Tuzzolino (assist), Aliu (goal), Versteeg-Lytwyn (assist) all recorded their first points with Sudbury.

"I thought Tuzzolino played a pretty strong game," said Foligno. "He did a lot of things very well. I still think he can play better for us. Akim hasn't played a whole lot of hockey...But he showed what he's capable of doing by powering his way to the net on our third goal. Mark hasn't played a lot, but can produce. Gary did a great job with face offs and tying people up. All four are contributing."

Despite the loss, Tuzzolino was feeling fine about being part of the Wolves.

"It feels good to be here," said the six-foot-six defender. "There's a great group of guys here. I think we have a good shot at making a nice run and I am looking forward to it. There's some instant chemistry. I came in and the guys were nothing but nice and it made it a lot easier to adjust. It's definitely nice playing with a guy like Marc Staal because you don't have to worry about defence too much because he always has you covered."

"For the most part, I thought both teams battled really hard," said Friesen. "We made the mistake of trying to run-and-gun with the top scoring team in the league and didn't get the breaks. We took too many stupid penalties. When we established our cycle down low, I thought we were a better team than them. That's how you beat a team like that. If we can take something out of this game, it's that we played our game and we stayed with them. We know we can play with good teams like that. I like the defence here. They move the puck up well and get it to you when you're moving."

The Wolves are back in action on Thursday, Jan. 19 when they travel down south to play the Toronto St. Michael's Majors. Game time is 7:30 pm. All the action can be heard on 790 CIGM. The Wolves are back at home on Friday, Jan. 20 against divisional rival Brampton. Game time is 7: 30 pm.