The Sudbury Wolves were on the road for a Sunday afternoon tilt against rivals the North Bay Battalion on Nov. 19, hoping to finally end a three-game losing streak.
The Battalion went with Charlie Robertson in goal while Sudbury called up Drew Gaulton from the Espanola Paper Kings of the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League (NOJHL)
Sudbury got off to the start they were looking for as David Goyette scored his seventh goal of the season to give the Wolves an early 1-0 lead just 35 seconds into the game.
The Wolves padded their lead at the 5:51 mark of the first period when Landon McCallum scored his eighth of the season to give the Wolves some insurance and a 2-0 lead.
The action was quiet until the 12:09 mark of the period when Ty Nelson scored his ninth goal of the season for North Bay to pull the Troops within one, for a score of 2-1.
With 1:37 remaining in the first period, Ihnat Pazii found the back of the net for his fourth of the season to tie the game up for North Bay, and the score was 2-2 heading into the first intermission.
A little more than two minutes into the second period, Justin Ertel scored for North Bay, his eighth goal of the season, putting North Bay on top for the first time, holding a 3-2 lead over the Wolves.
At the 3:09 mark of the period, Owen Van Steensel scored his tenth of the season to increase North Bay’s lead to 4-2.
Both teams traded chances, but were unable to solve the goalies until Anthony Romani found the back of the net for the 16th time this season, making it 5-2 for the Battalion with one period remaining in the game.
Nolan Collins got the Wolves going less than five minutes into the third period with his third goal of the season to make the score 5-3 for North Bay.
Just 10 seconds later, Dalibor Dvorsky continued his hot streak by scoring his eight of the season, cutting North Bay’s lead down to 5-4.
Several minutes passed without a goal until Ethan Procyszyn scored his sixth goal of the season to restore the Troops’ two-goal lead, now leading 6-4 over Sudbury.
The Wolves weren’t going down without a fight, however. Alex Pharand scored his third for the Pack, making the score 6-5 for the Battalion.
Anthony Romani would once again score for North Bay, his 17th of the season, to make the score 7-5 for North Bay with just over five minutes remaining.
Kocha Delic would once again bring Sudbury to within one goal by scoring his seventh of the season at the 17:31 mark of the third period to make the score 7-6 for North Bay.
That is as close as the Wolves would come on Sunday afternoon, however, and would fall by a score of 7-6, their fourth consecutive loss.
With the loss, the Wolves now hold a record of 10 wins, eight losses, and one overtime loss on the season. Sudbury currently sits 13th overall in the OHL and third in the central division.
The Wolves are at home Nov. 24 against the London Knights with a scheduled start time of 7:05 p.m.
Super fan Robert McCarthy covers Sudbury Wolves games for Sudbury.com. Got a question for Robert? Email it to [email protected].
