NORTH BAY, Ont. – The Sudbury Wolves scored early and often on Thursday night to win 8-4 over the North Bay Battalion, their fourth win in five games between the two clubs so far this season.
The Wolves got balanced offence from up and down their forward ranks, with Buffalo Sabres prospect Matej Pekar (1+2) and Nolan Hutcheson (2+1), who always seems to play well against North Bay, leading the way. Kyle Jackson had a strong game statistically for the Battalion, scoring three assists for his first career three-point game. Though neither goaltender was particularly sharp, Sudbury’s Mitchell Weeks stopped 38 of 42 shots to outduel his counterpart Cameron Lamour, who stopped 36 of 44 shots for North Bay.
With the Battalion getting even younger at the trade deadline and looking to the future, there were a number of mistakes throughout the game that could be attributed to that lack of experience. The Troops’ interim head coach Ryan Oulahen acknowledged as much after the game.
“We as a coaching staff say it all the time, as much as we go through things, practice things, we can’t go on the ice during games and help guys through it. They have to live through these moments, they have to get better from it. That’s black and white, it’s plain and simple. We do see push back from them, they do care and want to do well, but you do have to go through the lumps and those pains first.”
It isn’t often that a 12-goal hockey game could be considered dull, but the game seemed to lack that certain energy and pizzazz throughout. The Troops showed signs of life scoring two goals quickly in the second period to make it 5-3, but it was quickly snuffed out by another pair of Sudbury goals.
The Battalion was able to score two powerplay goals on the night, the first coming off the stick of Simon Rose with a Kyle Wood-esque slapshot and the too-often quiet Mason Primeau poking a puck through Weeks for the second. They lost the special teams battle overall, however, with Sudbury tallying a pair of powerplays goals of their own and a shorthanded goal off a misplayed puck by Lamour.
Brad Chenier faced his former club for the first time and collected a goal and an assist. The Wolves’ offensive outburst, their third eight-plus goal outing against North Bay this season, came without top prospect Quinton Byfield, who was scratched with the flu.
Sudbury added to its Central Division lead with the win, moving six points clear of Mississauga despite a mediocre 23-20-1 record. The loss was the Battalion’s seventh in eight games, the lone victory coming last Saturday at Niagara. North Bay holds a firm grip on the first overall selection for April’s OHL Draft and also has the inside track to the number one CHL Import Draft pick. The top selection rotates yearly between the CHL’s three leagues, with this season’s prize going to the last place OHL club.
