BY SCOTT HADDOW
It wasn't pretty, but the Sudbury Wolves
swatted the Sarnia Sting 4-3 at the Sudbury Arena on Sunday
afternoon.
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The Wolves took the victory after power
forward Anton Hedman pounced on a loose puck in the slot and
fired it into the Sarnia net on a late third period power
play.
Also scoring for the Wolves were Kyle Hope,
Devin DiDiomete and Keaton Turkiewicz.
Wolves goalie Kevin Beech picked up the win
in net by stopping 24 shots.
The win gave Sudbury two straight home
victories (They beat Toronto on Friday, Oct. 28 5-2), and
bumped the Wolves record above .500 on the season with a
7-6-0-1 record.
The Wolves sit in fourth spot in the Central
Division with 15 points.
The Wolves built up a 3-1 lead at one point
in the second period, but allowed the Sting to close the gap
and tie it in the third on a wicked shot by Sudbury native
Scott Restoule.
"You've heard of Coyote ugly, this
is definitely a Wolf ugly win," said Wolves head coach and
GM Mike Foligno. "It was one of the ugliest wins I've
seen in a long, long time. But you know what, a win is a
win...And we'll take it and move on. We were fortunate. We
had one of those bad (games) and we walked away with a
win."
Foligno singled out almost every aspect of
the Wolves game as ugly including the fore check, defensive
zone coverage, special teams and above all else,
discipline.
Foligno was glad to see some offensive
production out of his second and third lines.
"In games like this, you need other guys
to sometimes contribute and...we had that," said Foligno.
"Hope had a big goal and Turkiewicz with obviously a huge
goal...A great single hand effort, driving the net. It's a
good sign. We want them to continue no question."
The Wolves top line of Ben Pouliot, Nick
Foligno and Hedman racked up six minor penalties, keeping them
in the box throughout the game and wreaking havoc on line
combinations. The overall lack of discipline drew the wrath of
a frustrated Foligno.
"(It's) very alarming," said
Foligno about the amount of time the Wolves top line spent in
the sin bin. "It's a real red alert. It's
something we have to have a better handle on. Pouliot is a
great hockey player. Pouliot does not have to take any bad
penalties. We can't have Pouliot, Foligno (and Hedman) in
the penalty box. We can't have our top players in the
penalty box."
Both teams played a rather sluggish first
period, but the intensity picked up big time in the second
period.
Early in the second period, Wolves defender
Thomas Sample dropped the mitts with Sarnia captain Micheal
Haley. Both combatants went toe-to-toe for about 45 seconds,
punching wide open. Both players landed numerous damaging
blows, but stayed on their feet the whole time. The savage
brawl drew a wild ovation from the 4,006 fans in the
stands.
The Wolves took the lead in early in the
second period when DiDiomete charged the net and smashed home
his sixth goal of the season at 1:56.
Sarnia tied it up when Jared Gomes scored at
2:52.
The Wolves then pumped in two straight goals
in a span of nine seconds, by Hope, on the power play at 12:43,
and then by Turkiewicz at 12:52.
Sarnia replied when Gomes scored again on the
power play at 14:08.
In the third period, Restoule tied the game
after a wicked shot eluded Beech at 13:27.
The stage for a dramatic finish was
set.
The Wolves took the win on a late power play
when Hedman found a loose puck in the slot and wired it past
Sarnia's goalie through traffic at 14:35.
The Wolves then weathered an intense last
minute surge by the Sting with their goalie pulled.
Beech made several key saves to preserve the
victory, which was a huge boost for the Wolves.
"It was a big win for us," said
Alex Eaton. "It was a great weekend for us because we got
two wins and four points, which we needed. It was scramble in
the third, but we found a way to win."
Despite the win, the Wolves know there's
always more work to do to fine tune the team for more
success.
"We still need to work on the little
things," said Ryan Hastings. "When we have a lead, we
can't sit back. In the end, we got the two points, and
that's what matters. Winning two straight games at home is
huge for us after our bad weekend last week. Everybody is
playing hard and playing to win right now."
Restoule scored his first ever goal in
Sudbury, and despite losing, he felt good about being back in
Sudbury, if only for a few hours.
"It feels really good to score in front
of my family and friends," said Restoule. "All I
could think about was scoring a goal, so when I did, it felt
great. I will spend time with my family tonight (Sunday) and go
back to Sarnia tomorrow (Monday)."
The Wolves are right back in action on
Tuesday night when they host the Kingston Frontenacs. game time
at the Sudbury Arena is 7:30 pm.
Sudbury 5, Toronto 2
The Wolves meant business from the opening
face off in Friday night action versus the Toronto St.
Mike's Majors as Sudbury defenceman Ryan Hastings and Ryan
Wilson went toe to toe four seconds into the opening
period.
On the strength of Hastings' motivational
bout and three point efforts by rookie forward Anton Hedman and
defenceman Jonathan D'Aversa, the Wolves vanquished the
Majors' 5-2, improving their record to .500 on the
season.
After scoring twice in the first period, the
Wolves' held onto the lead largely thanks to their special
teams who killed 10 of 11 penalties and scored four goals on
nine power play opportunities.
Benoit Pouliot and Nick Foligno also
continued their fine offensive play for Sudbury with a goal and
an assist each while goaltender Kevin Beech stopped 27 of the
29 shots he faced for the win.
