BY SCOTT HUNTER HADDOW
The Sudbury Wolves went a perfect 2-0 over
the weekend to start their 2004-05 season.
On Friday night at the Sudbury Arena, the
Wolves beat a determined Ottawa 67s club 3-1 to open the season
on a winning note.
Ryan Hastings, Marc Staal, and Stefan Blaho
scored for the Wolves, while goalie Patrick Ehelechner was
sharp, when he had to be, stopping 22 of 23 shots he
faced.
The Wolves blasted 40 shots on the 67's
net, but were constantly thwarted by Sudbury native Danny
Battachio, who made big save after big save to keep his team in
the game all night.
Derek Joslin scored for the 67s.
On Sunday afternoon, the Wolves hit the ice
to face the Erie Otters.
Sparked by a thrilling hat trick by Beniot
Pouliot, the Wolves hammered the Otters 6-1.
The game also marked an impressive offensive
outburst by 2004 first round draft pick Ryan McDonough, who
scored his first career OHL goal and added three assists.
Bobby Chaumont and Mike Mills scored the
other goals for the Wolves.
Patrick Ehelechner was once again focused,
making 28 stops for the victory.
Derrick Bagshaw replied for the Otters.
With the win, and the solid start, the Wolves
are proud of their quick start, but know they must still show
up to every game with their lunch pails and pride of hard work
completely intact.
"This game had it all," said head coach and
general manager Mike Foligno. "We were finally able to get some
power from our power play, and we're moving the puck around
really well. It's something we want to make sure we
continue to do.
"We had a lot of different contributions from
a lot of different players. Our defence did a great job not
allowing them entry and stopping them at our blueline, and
turing it right back up to go the other way. The opportunities
that we did give them, Patrick Ehelechner was really stellar
again, especially early in the game when we got behind with a
couple of penalties."
Foligno was also impressed with the play of
the line featuring Pouliot, Zack Stortini, and McDonough.
"Pouliot had a great game," said Foligno. "He
has great hands out there. I thought he worked really well with
McDonough and Stortini, who was a catalyst out there with some
hits. This is the kind of play we're looking from these
guys. They are working hard and good things are
happening."
Foligno is salivating at the prospects of
icing two great scoring lines.
"We had good contributions from more than one
line, and that's something that is going to help us keep
being successful."
Specialty teams were rock solid for the
Wolves against the Otters.
The Wolves powerplay, which was awful all
last season, was a major factor in the game scoring two goals
out of six chances. The penalty killing unit was also strong,
killing off all of the Otter's nine chances. Mills also
scored a short-handed goal.
"Erie really moves the puck around well,"
said Foligno. "We tried a few different things against them on
the penalty kill. We kept them at bay and kept the clutter
around Patrick in front of the net."
The Otters scored first, when Bagshaw pounced
on a rebound in-front of Ehelechner and buried into the net at
6:13 of the first period.
The Wolves responded quickly, when
Otter's defenceman miss handled a clearing attempt and gave
the puck right to an open Pouliot, who fired it past
Otter's goalie Josh Disher at 6:55.
The Wolves took the lead for good at the end
of the period, when McDonough grabbed a loose puck by the side
of the net and fired it upstairs at 18:32. The goal was a power
play tally.
The Wolves then continued their assault in
the second period, scoring two more goals by Chaumont and
Pouliot.
Nick Foligno registered his first career OHL
point on Chaumont's goal by sending a sweet pass through
traffic and right onto the stick of Chaumont.
The Wolves kept their torrid pace up in third
by scoring two more goals, including Pouliot's third of the
game. He took a pass in the high slot from McDonough and zipped
a wrist shot past Disher at 13:21.
Mills then added the short-handed goal, at
18:45 to ice the win.
The team isn't allowing the quick success
to go to their heads.
"The team is doing really well," said
Stortini. "We can't get too high or too low. There's a
great group of young guys in this dressing room, and it's
an exciting time, but we have to get focused for the next game
and put in a good week of practice. We just want to take it one
day at a time now."
McDonough, 16, was quite modest about his
performance.
"It was great and I was ecstatic," said
McDonough about his first OHL goal. "It was something I was
dreaming of, and it just happened."
Pouliot chalked his three-goal performance to
playing an honest game and the effort by his linemates.
"I just play hard every game," said Pouliot.
"That's what happens when you play hard. McDonough and
Stortini are great players, and that helps me a lot to score
goals."
The Wolves hit the road next weekend for
three games in three days.
They play a return match Friday in Ottawa and
then face the Peterborough Petes Saturday, before taking on
Kingston Frontenacs Sunday.
