Posted by Sudbury Northern Life
The Sudbury Wolves and Soo Greyhounds faced off for the sixth and final time this season Tuesday evening, with the Wolves coming out on top, taking home a 6-4 victory.
The Wolves came out strong in the opening frame with two goals
before the midway point. The first goal was a power play marker
by Eric O'Dell with assists from Matt Dias and John
McFarland, and the second was a shorthanded effort by Akim
Aliu, who was assisted by Gerome Giudice. The Wolves took the
early 2-0 lead into the intermission.
The second period started with the Wolves continuing their scoring touch with a powerplay goal at the 3:09 minute mark by Jared Staal. The Wolves added to their lead at the 12:02 mark with a powerplay goal by O'Dell.
The Hounds then replaced starting netminder Bryce O'Hagan with Cody St. Jacques. The change seemed to spark the Hounds as they finally got on the board before the end of the period with a powerplay goal by Michael Fine.
The Hounds cut the Wolves lead to two early in the final frame with another powerplay goal by Fine at the 1:17 mark, and eventually cut the lead to one with a powerplay marker by former Sudbury Wolves forward Brett Thompson. Just under two minutes later, the Wolves regained the two goal advantage with a marker by Dias.
The Hounds would not go quietly though, scoring just over 30 seconds later with a second powerplay marker from Thompson. The Wolves added a goal at the 17:34 minute mark by Aliu and walked away with a 6-4 victory.
Sudbury Wolves netminder Alain Valiquette had a strong performance in goal, making 32 saves in the winning effort. The Hounds goaltending tandem combined to make 30 saves on 36 shots.
Games stars for the night went to Wolves player Matt Dias, Greyhounds player Michael Fine and Wolves player Akim Aliu.
The Wolves victory gave them a 4 - 2 series win against the
Greyhounds and claimed the Bell Challenge Cup for this season.
The Wolves will return to action at the Sudbury Arena Friday
night, where they will host the Mississauga St. Michael's
Majors. Game time is 7:30 p.m.
The Wolves will host a second game Saturday evening against the Barrie Colts in the Sudbury Saturday Night event. Game time is 7 p.m.
