A very nice Sunday afternoon crowd made its way to Sudbury Community Arena hoping to receive a little early Christmas cheer — and the Wolves wasted very little time delivering.
Tying a team record with a six-goal blast in the first period, OHL’s home runs increased their lead to 7-0 early in the game and cruised to an 8-4 victory over visiting Kingston Frontenacs.
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Sunday’s party marked the first game in which Wolves scored with 8 goals and the fifth time in 8 games that their output surpassed the six-goal mark.
Sudbury capitalized on the first penalty call of the day as a point shot from Matthew Mania went in off newcomer Lucas Signoretti before Alex Pharand doubled the advantage with his team a man short, exchanging picture-perfect passes with Nick Yearwood and tucking it past goaltender Mason Vaccari in tight.
A seeing-eye shot from Djibril Toure had the Wolves up three before the midway point of the frame, but it was later in the period when the floodgates truly burst wide open as Evan Konyen, Chase Coughlan and Dalibor Dvorsky all scored in a span of 2:07 to close off the opening stanza.
Any fears of the Pack letting it go were dispelled early the moment Landon McCallum scored his 11th of the season just 37 moments later. From there, it wasn’t as fair as the aftermath and a slightly less defensive effort allowed the Fronts. to make the final score much more respectable.
Ethan Miedema, Luke McNamara, Gage Heyes and Linus Hemstrom all managed to solve Wolves netminder Marcus Vandenberg, making his first start since being acquired last week from the Niagara Ice Dogs, with Dvorsky countering with his second of the game for the Wolves.
Making one of their longest road trips of the year with a Thursday night stop in North Bay and a Friday matchup in Sault Ste. Marie, the K-town crew received little sympathy from a Wolves team intent on taking a run at the top of an incredibly tightly bunched Eastern Conference this year.
“We came out strong today,” Sudbury head coach Ken MacKenzie said. “This team played well and we didn’t need to take anything lightly. I think our guys were called up today, they looked for it from the start. “the game. I felt like we were going to be smart in the first era and that the records were going our way.
That said, focusing simply on protecting such a giant lead is rarely a natural gift for a team that thrives on offense and while the game never looked risky, there was plenty more to like from the Wolves’ first half of the game. So far, 30 minutes.
“With a lead like that, it’s kind of hard to stay focused,” said forward Evan Konyen, the 19-year-old who reached career speed in a single season with 11 goals and 12 assists in his first 27 games. . of the season. ” The coaches reminded us that the game wasn’t over and that we had to keep running hard.
“Defense is vital for us. This is all we continue to work on in practice. Once we scored six, Ken’s message was that we were trying to see how many we could keep out of our network.
Gifting the Frontenacs eight power plays — exactly the same number of PP opportunities which they had allowed in the last three games combined — certainly did not help the hosts maintain their offensive rhythm.
“Our pitch wasn’t great after that (the first half), because we weren’t afraid to take a penalty,” MacKenzie said.
“All the little things in a game that you need to do well, when you get a lead like that, they slip away from you. But at the end of the day, we had to do everything right to score all six goals as a result. “as soon as possible, so all credit goes to the kids for getting off to such a smart start.
And where the offense has revolved in recent games around the most sensible three of Dalibor Dvorsky, David Goyette and Quentin Musty, the game obviously saw the full spectrum of the Wolves’ offensive punch covered, with Konyen just one of many participants with the goal glut of late. .
“I feel like I’m playing with some confidence right now,” he said. “It helps me to have two smart players (to play with), whether it’s Lando (Landon McCallum), Villy (Nathan Villeneuve) or Delly (Kocha Delic) on my line each and every night. “
Not to mention some very special talents in every educational consultation in the form of the most sensible unit.
“Those guys are fun to watch,” Konyen said. “It’s really cool to watch some of the stuff they can do with the puck. I really like the way that Dali (Dvorsky) protects the puck. He’s so smart with everything he does on the ice. Just watching him in practice is pretty cool.”
For the more than 4,000 enthusiasts who attended on Sunday, eager to liven up the upcoming holiday season, Dvorsky, Konyen and their friends were also quite interesting to watch.
Wolves 8, Ice Dogs 4
Nolan Collins didn’t expect to score two goals, but the Sudbury defender wasn’t going to pass up the chance to score a few at home on Friday night.
Fans appreciated the 19-year-old’s offensive outburst, as well as the other six goals his team scored in an 8-4 win over the Niagara IceDogs.
“Friday nights in Sudbury,” Collins said with a smile. “I’ve played on each and every court and I think it’s the most productive environment I’ve ever been. All the enthusiasts show up on Fridays and we tend to do pretty well. “on Fridays. Hopefully we can keep the momentum going for the rest of the season. “
Konyen, McCallum, Villeneuve, Dvorsky and Andre Anania also lit the lamp for Wolves, who broke what had been a back-and-forth affair with a trio of goals in the second half of the second period.
Jakub Vondras made 20 saves as Sudbury bounced back from a frustrating loss to the Greyhounds just two nights earlier.
— with files from Ben Leeson/The Sudbury Star
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