?Golden? Ehelechner returns from World Juniors and stops 34 of 35 shots
BY SCOTT HUNTER HADDOW
A tenacious team effort and the return of goalie Patrick Ehelechner sparked the Sudbury Wolves to a 4-1 win over the defending Memorial Cup Champion Kitchener Rangers yesterday at the Sudbury Arena.
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Patrick Ehelechner |
Ehelechner, starting his first game since leaving for the World Junior Championships "B" Pool in mid-December and leading Germany to gold was spectacular in his return, stopping 34 of 35 shots he faced.
The win was vital for the Wolves playoff hopes.
The Wolves gained two points on the Peterborough Petes and now sit just one point out of the final play off spot in the Eastern Conference.
Both teams were missing three key players each.
The Rangers were without the services of defenceman Andre Benoit (scratched) and Mike Richards and Petr Kanko, both of whom were at the World Junior Championships (WJC) "A" in Finland representing Canada and Slovakia.
The Wolves were without Marc Staal and Kyle Lamb, two of their top defencemen, who are playing at the International Under-17 Championships in Newfoundland and Stefan Blaho, who is at the also at the WJC.
Head coach and general manager Mike Foligno was obviously pleased with the win over Kitchener.
"Today, we just didn't play, we competed," said Foligno.
"That was the difference from our success lately and our not so successful road trip we just had. We wanted to bounce back strong and we did."
Foligno had praise for more than one player.
"Ehelechner's return sparked us," said Foligno. "He allows us a chance to win every night and we feed off it. Stortini's been a bull lately and he's driving to the net hard. Martynowski has just been a great acquisition for us. He's contributing and today was no different."
The win was huge for the team.
"We're looking at ourselves as a team moving up in the standings," said Foligno. "We have been playing well lately. We have to make sure we continue that play. We have to start eking out some road wins and that will make the difference for us."
Stortini was thrilled the team scored a decisive victory over a top notch team.
"The guys did a great job showing up against one of the best teams in the Canadian Hockey league (CHL)," said Stortini. "It's definitely a confidence booster beating Kitchener. We played them before the break and lost in overtime. It was a solid team win."
Ehelechner was still beaming with golden pride after the game and was happy to be back helping the Wolves gain two points in the play off race.
"It's always good when you can beat the Memorial Cup winning team," said Ehelechner.
"It's a good start for us after the Christmas break and a great way to start the second half of the season."
Martynowski was glad to chip in two goals and an assist against his former team for the victory.
"It feels pretty good," said Martynowski.
"The win is even bigger because we needed the two points. We worked hard and did the little things to win."
The Rangers scored first in the game when Evan McGrath picked up a loose puck in the slot and put it top shelf past a prone Ehelechner at 6:03 of the first period. It was a power play goal.
The Wolves responded quickly to the one-goal deficit.
Martynowski took a nice pass in the slot and delicately tapped the puck past Rangers' starting goalie Tyson Kellerman at 15:48 to tie the game.
The second period was the Stortini show.
The big man was all over the ice throwing hits and creating chaos. This inspired play earned him numerous scoring chances and he capitalized.
With the Rangers on the power play, Stortini blocked a point shot, scooped up the puck and broke free on Kellerman and ripped the puck five-hole to make it 2-1 Sudbury at 4:41. The goal was a short-handed effort.
Stortini wasn't finished yet. Moments later Stortini tipped a shot past Kellerman in a wild goal-mouth scramble to make it 3-1 at 14:40.
The third period saw the Wolves clamp down defensively on the Rangers. Martynowski put the final nail in the Rangers' coffin when he dumped the puck into an empty net at 16:11.
The Wolves next home game is Tuesday, Dec. 30 against the Toronto St. Michael's Majors. Game time is 7:30 pm.
