The Sudbury Wolves had a shot at first place
in the Central Division, but dropped two of three games over
the weekend, and remain in third place in the division with 49
points, two behind second place Mississauga.
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The Wolves and IceDogs played a
close game Friday night, with the IceDogs skating to a
3-2 victory. Rafal Martynowski (9), is watched closely
by IceDogs' defenders Kyle Quincey (22) and Frankie
Santini (44). |
The Wolves lost 1-0 in overtime, thanks to a
Nathan McIver goal, to the Toronto St. Michael's Majors on
Sunday afternoon in Toronto.
Patrick Ehelechner was sharp, making 26
saves. Toronto's goalie Justin Peters was even better,
stopping all 45 shots he faced.
On Saturday, the Wolves dumped the Eastern
Conference-leading Peterborough Petes 5-3 in
Peterborough.
Ben Pouliot lead the charge by scoring two
goals. Rafal Martynowski, Stefan Blaho and Bobby Chaumont
scored the other goals for the Wolves.
Kevin Beech got the start in goal for the
Wolves, and the lanky netminder responded by making 38 saves in
the victory.
Jordan Morrison, Daniel Ryder and local boy
Jadran Beljo scored for the Petes.
The Sudbury Wolves were nipped 3-2 by the
Mississauga IceDogs on Friday night at the Sudbury Arena in a
rough contest for Central Division supremacy.
Both teams entered the battle tied for second
place in the division with 46 points.
IceDogs' power forward John Hecimovic
scored two goals to pace the attack for Mississauga in the
win.
The game turned ugly in the third period when
IceDogs' forward Daniel Carcillo violently cross-checked
Wolves' defender Adam McQuaid in the mouth with his stick
during a hit.
McQuaid laid on the ice in serious pain for
several minutes.
Wolves' scrapper Alex Eaton tried his
best to get at Carcillo to extract some revenge, but the
linesmen did their job and held Eaton at bay.
Carcillo was kicked out of the game, and will
surely be suspended by the OHL. Carcillo was suspended 15 games
earlier this season for another stick incident.
McQuaid had chipped teeth, and required
stitches to close a gash, but was supposed to be fine. (McQuaid
played the next night in Peterborough).
After the game, Wolves' head coach and
general manager Mike Foligno was furious over the Carcillo
incident.
"What happened to Adam McQuaid is just
inexcusable," said Foligno. "Carcillo cross-checked him right
in the mouth. He's been known to do that. He's done it
in the past and been suspended for it, and the league is
obviously going to have to take a look at the tape on this
one."
Foligno expected a tight battle heading into
the big four-point contest.
"We're two teams that are matched up
pretty good against each other," said Foligno. "We have had
some tight games in the past, and I think it's going to
continue that way.
"They got a jump on us with a couple of power
play goals. We answered back with a couple of power play goals
of our own, but couldn't execute to get the (tying goal) or
the game winner when we had the opportunities. We had a five on
three in the third period that we needed to capitalize on, and
unfortunately, we didn't."
Foligno thought new acquisition Kevin Baker
performed well in his debut.
"He did a really good job out there, said
Foligno. "He probably could have scored the tying goal. He
skated very well, and I think he's going to bring us
everything we expected he would."
The Wolves came out flying in the first
period, unleashing a barrage of shots, but IceDogs' goalie
Michael Ouzas was on his game.
The Wolves lit up the scoreboard first on the
power play when Chaumont jumped all over a loose puck in the
slot and fired it home after a great pass from
Martynowski.
Martynowski completed a nifty wraparound shot
that produced the scoring chance for Chaumont.
The goal was the 100th of Chaumont's
career.
From there, the Wolves fell flat and started
getting into costly penalty trouble.
IceDogs' power forward John Hecimovic
tied the game at 9:49 of the first period on the power play by
blasting a one-time shot past Ehelechner.
Mississauga charged ahead when Carcillo
scored on the power play at 12:51 of the first frame by roofing
the puck over Ehelechner.
Mississauga took a 3-1 lead at 8:28 of the
second period when Hecimovic snapped a quick shot past
Ehelechner.
The Wolves continued to press and were
rewarded minutes later when Nick Foligno took a pass from newly
acquired centre Baker and deked Ouzas out of his pants and
tucked it into the net at 15:38 of the second period.
The Wolves failed to capitalized on the five
minute power play, which also included two minutes of
five-on-three power play time after IceDogs' defenceman
Craig Cescon took a roughing penalty during Carcillo's
penalty time.
Despite lambasting Ouzas with 37 shots, the
Wolves couldn't find the equalizer.
The Wolves are back in action this Friday
when they take on Toronto. Game time at the Sudbury Arena is
7:30 pm.
The Wolves also host the Owen Sound Attack on
Sunday afternoon. Game time is 2 pm.
