BY SCOTT HADDOW
The Sudbury Wolves dropped two straight games
over the weekend, losing to Kitchener and Peterborough, and now
have dropped in the standings.
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Players fight hard for the puck in
the crease. |
On Friday night, the Wolves lost 4-2 to
Kitchener.
The Rangers enjoyed a 2-0 lead after the
first period and never looked back.
Ben Pouliot and Matt Dias scored for the
Wolves.
Mike Pelech, Justin Azevedo, David Lomas and
Matt Auffrey tallied for the Rangers.
Wolves goalie Kevin Beech was solid, making
30 saves in the loss.
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Yves Bastien and Adam McQuaid
collide along the boards. |
The Wolves manged to muster only 20 shots on
net at Kitchener goalie Dan Turple.
On Sunday afternoon, the Wolves came out
energized, despite the fact the squad was missing stars Marc
Staal and Pouliot.
Both players boarded a plane early Sunday
morning to depart to Toronto and then on to Vancouver for he
World Junior Championship (WJC) Team Canada training
camp.
The Wolves took complete control of the first
period, and thanks to goals by Anton Hedman and Nick Foligno
(on the power play) held a 2-0 lead.
Things fell a part for the Wolves in the
second period when they ran into penalty trouble.
Sudbury was nailed for eight penalties,
including five in a row in the second frame.
The Petes made no mistake and seized the
opportunity by pumping in two power play markers by all-star
Daniel Ryder.
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Ryan Hastings and Justin Soryal
fight for their team's honour. |
The game was lost in the third period, after
Petes' centre Jordan Staal won a face off and blew by
defenders to rip the game winning goal past Beech at
15:51.
A last ditch effort with beech on the bench
failed to produce a goal, and the Wolves were left to lick
their wounds and wait for another day to battle and taste
victory.
The second period was the turning point of
the game.
"No question, there's a team we had
by the neck," said Wolves head coach and GM Mike Foligno.
"2-0 lead after a great first period and then...we got
some bad calls against us, but at the same time, we a little
bit of our focus and we took some selfish penalties. It's
come to a head now. Against teams good teams like Peterborough
and last game against Kitchener, we did get on the wrong side
of a call a few times. We can't blame the referee all the
time. It's all about the individuals on this team that have
to suck it up and keep their focus and self
control."
Despite not having the services and dynamics
of Pouliot and Staal (Peterborough was without Steve Downie as
well, who also left for the Canadian WJC camp), The Wolves put
forth great second efforts and brought the fight to the Petes
for all three periods.
"I thought our team played hard
regardless," said Foligno. "We put ourselves into
some bad situations that we didn't need to. It's a big
loss for our hockey club this weekend. It would have been nice
to come out of this weekend with something. At the same time,
hopefully it's a great lesson for our younger players that
you can't take anyone lightly out there. Our leaders
didn't show a good enough example in the second period and
that's where we needed our leaders to really shine for
us."
Forward Mike Mills injured his leg or ankle
in the game and left. No word on his condition was
available.
The Wolves were feeling the sting of the
tough loss.
"We played well in the first but in the
second we took stupid penalties and Peterborough
capitalized," said Jonathan D'Aversa. "The second
period killed us and tired us out. We have to rebound from
this. We learned we have to go hard every shift. Staying out of
the box and working hard every shift is how you beat the good
teams in this league."
Petes bench boss Dick Todd was happy with his
team's efforts on the road, especially after facing a 2-0
deficit after the first period.
"We were fortunate to get that late
third period face off win and Jordan buried a rebound to win
the game," said Todd. "After being down, on the road,
we were able to come back and get the win. It was a good battle
for both teams."
The weekend losses hurt the Wolves in the
standings. Sudbury now sits in fourth spot in the Central
Division with 34 points and a record of 16-12-1-1. The Wolves
are also now tied for sixth in the Eastern Conference with
Ottawa.
Peterborough maintains its tight hold on
first overall in the league with the victory. The Petes have a
23-5-1-0 record, good for 47 points, one better than the London
Knights and two better than Barrie.
The Wolves hit the road this upcoming weekend
for games against Windsor (Thursday), London (Friday) and
Brampton (Sunday).
