Wolves hold off surging Steelheads to remain undefeated

The Sudbury Wolves tied a franchise record when they defeated the visiting Brampton Steelheads 4-2 on Sunday afternoon at Sudbury Arena.

The win improves the Pack’s record to 4-0 to start the season, tying a franchise record.

Neilan Johnson got the start between the pipes for the Brampton Steelheads while Paolo Frasca was the starting goaltender for the Sudbury Wolves for the fourth consecutive game. Wolves’ rookie standout Tanner Adams was not in the lineup for the game due to injury.

With exactly nine minutes left to play in the first period and after stealing the puck from a Brampton player, Norman Greene scored his first career goal in the Ontario Hockey League, with Parker Smith and Artem Gonchar picking up the assists, giving the Wolves a 1-0 lead.

At the 15:20 mark of the first, and with Brampton’s Manuel Armado in the penalty box for charging, Rowan Henderson scored the second goal of the game (and his second of the season) with a tip in from a point shot by Mason Walker, increasing Sudbury’s lead to 2-0 after the first period of the hockey game.

Just over 12 minutes into the second, and with Sudbury’s Walker serving a minor penalty for slashing, Henderson scored his second goal of the game short-handed by sneaking the puck through Johson’s five hole, with the lone assist going to Wolves’ captain Blake Clayton, extending the Pack’s lead to 3-0.

Less than a minute later, and with the Wolves still killing Walker’s penalty, the Steelheads finally cracked the scoreboard thanks to Troy Patton’s second goal of the season, with assists going to Nathan Amidovski and Peter Green, to break Frasca’s shutout chance, making the score 3-1 for the Wolves with one period left to play.

With 5:01 left in the game, with Sudbury’s Partik Ula in the box for tripping, Patton scored once again on the power play, tipping in Carter Hick’s point shot, making the score 3-2 for Sudbury.

With just over a minute remaining in the hockey game, Jean-Christoph Lemieux scored his second goal of the season with a tip in off of Liam Ladd’s point shot, assisted by Liam Ladds and Jan Chovan, sealing a 4-2 victory for the Wolves.

The Sudbury Wolves are off until Oct. 2 against the Niagara IceDogs. The Pack looks to set a franchise record by starting a season with a record of five wins and no losses for the first time in franchise history. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.

Super fan Robert McCarthy covers Sudbury Wolves and Sudbury Five games for Sudbury.com. Got a question for Robert? Email it to [email protected].