The Sudbury Wolves grabbed a playoff spot with both hands on March 9, defeating the Barrie Colts 7-2 in front of a hometown crowd.
The win moves the Pack into sixth place in the Eastern Conference with a record of 30 wins, 26 regulations losses, and five overtime losses.
On making the playoffs, Head Coach Scott Barney highlighted the team’s efforts to make it to the post-season.
“For us, it doesn’t really matter what playoff spot you finish. In our division, those top five teams are pretty good,” Barney said in his post-game comments. “For us it’s kind of each shift, each game, each period at a time.”
Finn Marshall once again got the nod in goal for Sudbury while Barrie went with Ben Hrebik between the pipes.
Just under six and a half minutes into the first period, Quentin Musty skated around a Barrie defenceman and put the puck top shelf past Hrebik for his 25th goal of the season to give the Wolves a 1-0 lead.
Fast forward to the 11:10 mark of the opening period, Luca Blonda fed the puck to Ondrej Molnar who deked his way to his 15th goal of the season, putting the Wolves in front by a score of 2-0.
With 3:31 remaining in the first, Rowan got the puck at the left faceoff circle and blasted a slap shot past Hrebik for his eighth goal of the season, increasing Sudbury’s lead to 3-0.
With 44 seconds left to play in the opening period and with Ondrej Molnar serving a minor penalty for slashing, Beau Akey fired off a slapshot of his own for his fifth goal of the season, making the score 3-1 for the Sudbury Wolves heading into the first intermission.
Less than five minutes into the second period, Kieron Walton shot the puck through a Barrie defenceman and goaltender Hrebik for his 36th goal of the season to make the score 4-1 for the Wolves.
At the 11:14 mark of the middle frame, Quentin Musty went in all alone on Hrebik for his second goal of the game, increasing the Wolves’ lead even further to 5-1 heading into the third period.
Just under eight minutes into the third and with Gabriel Eliasson in the penalty box for roughing, Chase Coughlan scored his 22nd goal of the season on the power play when he tipped a shot by Musty past Hrebik to give the Wolves a sizable 6-1 lead.
Approaching the halfway mark of the third period, Musty took the puck off a faceoff win and blasted a hard slap shot past the Barrie netminder to complete the hat trick and give Sudbury a 7-1 lead.
With 7:36 remaining in the hockey game, Anthony Romani added one more for the Barrie Colts, his 16th goal of the season, making the score 7-2 for the Wolves, but it didn’t matter, as the Sudbury Wolves defeated the Barrie Colts 7-2 to improve their record to 30 wins, 26 regulation losses, and five overtime losses on the season, and continue their winning streak to four games, good for third place in the Central Division and sixth place in the Eastern Conference.
With the win, the Sudbury Wolves have also clinched their spot in the 2025 Ontario Hockey League Playoffs.
The Sudbury Wolves hit the road on March 11th to visit the Brampton Steelheads with a scheduled start time of 7 p.m.
Super fan Robert McCarthy covers Sudbury Wolves and Sudbury Five games for Sudbury.com. Got a question for Robert? Email it to [email protected].