It had the feels of a classic northern hockey game; a low scoring physical battle and one that Sudbury really enjoyed because they came out on top of North Bay 3-2.
Also a nice bounce back game after losing 5-4 in overtime on Wednesday to the team on the other side of Highway 17, the Greyhounds.
“I thought from wire to wire we played a pretty clean game tonight. You kind of look back and the scoring chances were few and far between, you’re going to run into a little bit of tension in the last few minutes because the teams pressing and playing a bit different. I just thought we played a real clean hockey game tonight,” said Wolves Head Coach David Matsos.
Since the Christmas break the Wolves have now played eight games and have picked up points in all but one, a 5-2 loss in Sarnia.
“Our team is really starting to progress on the upwards, we’ve given up two points against Sarnia since we’ve been back, that was a night that we just weren’t on. Other than that these guys have strung some pretty good hockey periods together,” said Matsos.
It’s a more consistent team at least on the defensive side.
At the beginning of the season the Wolves goalies were seeing the shots against climb into the 40’s and sometimes 50’s.
But the Wolves have only given up 40 shots against just twice in their last 13 games.
“Like I said to our guys, let’s just keep building. Our shot count against is going down, our hits are going up, our turnovers are going down, everything is trending in the right direction. We just got to continue to keep growing as a team, right now I really like the chemistry and I really like the attitude that we have in our dressing room,” said Matsos.
And speaking of goaltending, Jake McGrath has been great for the Wolves making his sixth straight start since Zack Bowman went down with an ankle injury.
He said the consistent play has really helped with him play at ease.
“This is kind of what I want and what I was expecting, so obviously now I kind of got the reins and it’s nice because it’s a relief of pressure knowing you’re kind of the number one now, so I’m just going to roll with it,” said McGrath.
The Wolves got two goals from Ryan Valentini, his third multi-goal game of the season and fourth of his OHL career.
But he gave all the credit to the team.
“I thought it was a good effort, they almost came back at the end. I think we have guys who are capable of shutting down their chances, so I think it was a full team effort tonight,” said Valentini.
Dmitry Sokolov had his two goal a game streak snapped at five and we jokingly asked Matsos, what he was going to do with a slumping Sokolov.
“He’s ice cold, I can’t believe it, I’m going to have trouble sleeping tonight with that one,” said Matsos.
The first period was light on the action, as there was just nine shots combined through the first 10 minutes.
The Wolves struck first with a beautiful give-and-go effort.
Ryan Valentini carried the puck in from the right circle, dropped it down to David Levin who was even with the goal post.
Levin fed a three foot pass right back to Valentini who fired home his 13th of the season.
The Wolves took the first penalty of the game, but right after it expired they struck again.
Kyle Capobianco absolutely ripped a slap shot from the left blue-line which went top cheddar for his seventh of the season.
Capobianco now has the same amount of goals through 39 games as he did all last season in 68.
Macauley Carson and Michael Pezzetta picked up assists on the goal.
The first period ended 2-0 for Sudbury.
After the first period there was no sign of Shane Bulitka and Matsos explained after the game why.
“It was a weird one actually, his stick got caught in his glove and kind of almost in a corkscrew motion ripped his hand for a dozen or 14 sticks,” said Matsos.
The Wolves had taken three straight penalties and early in the second period the Battalion got one back on the power play.
Mark Shoemaker took a shot from the point which was tipped in front by Justin Brazeau to get North Bay back within one.
On the Wolves first power play of the game they found the back of the net.
With just over five to play in the second Dmitry Sokolov weaved through the zone and dished it off to Valentini on the left circle.
He just beat Brent Moran with the shot for his second of the game.
“It’s just how unselfish Dmitry is, it’s just a good hockey play and it was the right play,” said Matsos.
The second period ended with a 3-1 Sudbury lead.
The Battalion got a goal back very early into the third period, 23 seconds in fact.
With the game at four on four, Zach Shankar shot from the left blue-line and Steve Harland, who was crashing towards the net, tipped it past McGrath.
The Battalion put the pressure on at the end of the game with their net empty, but Reagan O’Grady killed about 25 seconds of the ticking clock by himself holding the puck behind the Wolves net.
With the win the Wolves move to 18-19-5-0 and six points up on North Bay.
Mississauga also won on the night beating Sault Ste. Marie 6-2, meaning they still hold the division lead by one point.
The Steelheads visit Sudbury on Sunday afternoon.
