The Sudbury Wolves were on the road on Thursday night in North Bay taking on arch rivals for the first of a home and home series.
Jakub Vondras was the starting goaltender for the Wolves while the Troops went with Dom DiVincentiis between the pipes.
The Pack dominated play in the early going, peppering DiVincentiis with shots until they finally found the back of the net with a goal from Dalibor Dvorsky, his 24th of the season, to put Sudbury in the lead 1-0 at the 12:03 mark of the first period.
With 1:09 remaining, David Goyette gave the Wolves some insurance with his 27th goal of the season, giving Sudbury a 2-0 cushion heading into the first intermission.
The Battalion came out for the second period ready to do battle. At 5:52, North Bay started mounting a comeback with a goal from Owen Van Steensel, his 21st of the season, making the score 2-1 for the Wolves.
Less than one minute later Jacob Therrien scored his 16th goal of the season for the Battalion to tie the game 2-2.
North Bay wasn’t done yet and scored again before the second intermission to take the lead. Van Steensel scored his second of the game with 10:33 remaining in the middle frame to give the Troops a 3-2 lead with one period remaining in regulation.
It wouldn’t take the Pack long to knot the game again though. Just 59 seconds into the third period, Quentin Musty would tie the game for the Wolves with his 22nd goal of the season, making the score 3-3.
The back and forth continued as Therrien scored his second of the game at the 4:46 mark of the period to restore a lead for North Bay, by a score of 4-3.
Wolves’ forward Kocha Delic would tie the game again at 12:06, recording his 15th goal of the season.
Despite a flurry of opportunities in the remainder of the third, the teams ended the period tied 4-4 and earned a point each, with a second point on the line in overtime.
The Battalion dominated play in the five minute OT period, but couldn’t put the puck past Vondras so a shootout was needed to determine a winner.
Sudbury native Zach Giroux would score the shootout winner for the Wolves, who defeated the North Bay Battalion by a final score of 5-4.
With the victory, the Wolves now hold a record of 24 wins, 14 losses, three overtime losses and two shootout losses, which is good for first place in the Ontario Hockey League’s Central Division and second place in the Eastern Conference, just one point behind the Conference leading Brantford Bulldogs. The Wolves also find themselves in fourth place in the entire Ontario Hockey League.
The Wolves are back on the ice on tonight (Jan. 26) in a rematch against the North Bay Battalion, with a scheduled start time of 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].
