BY JASON THOMPSON
With injuries to right-wingers Matt Dias and
Anton Hedman, the Sudbury Wolves depth on the right flank is
being put to the test.
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Photo by John Sabourin ActionEventPhotos.com With the Wolves short a few players
due to injuries, call-up Brenden Biedermann has pitched
in, scoring a pair of goals. |
Luckily for Wolves head coach and general
manager Mike Foligno, call-up Brenden Biedermann, is helping to
fill the void.
Biedermann scored two goals in three games
for the Wolves last weekend and is looking to keep up the pace
against the Barrie Colts when they invade the Sudbury Arena
Friday. Game time is 7:30 pm.
"Biedermann played very well for the
limited ice-time he's received. So far he's been real
productive," said Foligno. "He's a great kid and
he's given us a shot in the arm every time we've called
him up...and he's really fit in well the past couple of
games."
With the hard-working Biedermann in place on
the right side, Foligno can turn his attention to the task at
hand - beating the Barrie Colts and moving up the
standings.
In five games against their divisional rivals
this season, the Wolves have only come away with two wins. The
good news is that that both of the those wins, a 7-1 thrashing
on Oct. 14, 2005 and a 6-1 pounding on Jan. 27, have come on
home-ice.
That being said, Foligno knows a game against
the division rival Colts is far from a walk in the park.
"They're a very skilled and speedy,
we'll have to make sure we play a smart game as far as not
allowing their skilled guys the space and time they
require," he said.
Part of not giving any of Barrie's
offensive weapons time and space to set-up involves staying out
of the penalty box. The Wolves are the league's most
penalized team with 1,499 penalty minutes so far this season.
Next in line is Plymouth with 1,464 and Kitchener with 1,373
minutes.
"We have to make sure we play a real
disciplined game because their power play is probably on of the
best in the league and they've won a lot of games with
it," Foligno said.
Barrie's Bryan Little leads the way for
his team with 17 power play goals in 50 games. That statistic
is enough to get noticed opposing coaches and players
alike.
"Bryan Little is having an unbelievable
year this year, scoring wise," said Foligno.
He believes his Wolves have what it takes to
shut Little down on Friday.
"The last time we played (Barrie), we
did a lot of good things against them and we finally got a
chance to show what we can do, we stayed out of the penalty box
and capitalized on our opportunities and power plays.
"The last time we beat them, it gave us
a lot of confidence and we know we can play with the top teams
in the league and this is another good test," said
Foligno.
"There's no question we'll be
ready for them and they're going to be ready for
us...should make for a very exciting hockey game."
