Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield was one of 4,701 fans in attendance at the Sudbury Community Arena on Friday night as the Sudbury Wolves were at home taking on their Central Division rivals, the Barrie Colts.
Ben West was the starting goaltender for Barrie while Jakub Vondras returned to the net for the Wolves.
Right out of the gate Barrie tested Vondras early but the Wolves netminder was there to shut the door and keep the game scoreless.
4:30 into the opening period Quentin Musty scored his 12th goal of the season to put Sudbury on top with a 1-0 lead. David Goyette’s assist on the goal proved to be his 200th career point in the Ontario Hockey League.
The Wolves peppered West with shots but didn’t score again until under five minutes remaining in the period when Dalibor Dvorsky scored his 11th of the season to give the Wolves a 2-0 lead heading into the first intermission.
Sudbury came back onto the ice flying in the second period when Musty scored his second of the game 46 seconds into the period to give the Wolves a big 3-0 lead.
Less than one minute later, Dvorsky followed up with his second of the game to give Sudbury a very commanding lead, by a score of 4-0.
At the 2:42 mark of the second period, the Colts attempted to chip away at Sudbury’s lead with Riley Patterson’s seventh goal of the season to make the score 4-1 for Sudbury.
With just over seven minutes remaining in the middle frame, Dvorsky would complete the hat trick, his first in the OHL, and also restore Sudbury’s four-goal lead, with the Wolves now leading 5-1.
At the 14:03 mark of the period Beau Jelsma would score for Barrie, his eighth of the season, making the score 5-2 for the Wolves.
Ten seconds later, David Goyette would score to make the score 6-2 for the hometown Wolves.
Just 10 seconds after tha,t Barrie would strike again with Eduard Sale scoring his seventh of the season, closing the gap to 6-3 for Sudbury.
Twenty-eight seconds later Barrie would score again to make the score 6-4 with another goal from Beau Jelsma, his ninth of the season and second of the game.
Nathan Villeneuve of the Wolves would cap off a nine-goal period with his sixth of the season, with 3:41 remaining in the second, and this is how the period would end, with Sudbury leading 7-4 with one period left to play.
Zach Wigle would score for Barrie under five minutes into the third to begin to chip away at Sudbury’s lead, making the score now 7-5.
At the 5:01 mark of the period Barrie would pull within a single goal when Cole Beaudoin scored his 10th of the season, making the score 7-6 for Sudbury.
It was at this point when Nate Krawchuk took over in net for Sudbury over Jakub Vondras.
With 7:30 remaining in the period, Goyette would score again to increase the Wolves lead to 8-6.
Matthew Mania would end the scoring at the 18:17 mark of the period with his first of the season to seal the victory for the Wolves, in an exciting, high scoring affair, with the Sudbury Wolves winning 9-6.
The Wolves finally got their Power Play going in this game, scoring five goals on six opportunities, while Barrie managed to score three times while shorthanded.
With the win, the Sudbury Wolves now have a record of 12 wins, 10 losses and one overtime loss on the season.
The next game for the Wolves is on the road in Mississauga against the Mississauga Steelheads on Sunday, Dec. 3, with a scheduled start time of 2 p.m. then they return home against the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds on Wednesday, Dec. 6 at 7:05 p.m.
Super fan Robert McCarthy covers Sudbury Wolves games for Sudbury.com. Got a question for Robert? Email it to [email protected].
