Sudbury Wolves’ Captain Nathan Villeneuve and his squad took to the ice coming off a three-game winning streak at the Sudbury Community Arena Dec. 19, for their final game before the Christmas break against the Guelph Storm.
The Sudbury Wolves were able to extend that winning streak to four with an impressive 6-2 victory, heading into the holiday break with a record of 13 wins, 19 regulation losses and one overtime loss on the season.
Sudbury native Alex Pharand led the Wolves with a hat trick, for a combined five goals in his last two games.
Cruz Reznik was the starting goaltender for the Guelph Storm while Paolo Fresca made his first career Ontario Hockey League start for the Sudbury Wolves.
It was a quiet first period until Nathan Villeneuve scored with just 13 seconds left in the period, his 14th goal of the season, assisted by Kieron Walton, putting the Wolves on top 1-0 after the first period.
Just under a minute into the second, Rowan Henderson scored his eighth goal of the season, with the assists going to Artem Gonchar and Blake Clayton, increasing Sudbury’s lead to 2-0.
Alex Pharand scored his sixth goal of the season at the 3:25 mark of the middle frame, assisted by Vladimir Provorov and Gavin Ewles, giving the Sudbury Wolves breathing room and a 3-0 lead.
Just over halfway through the second period, Guelph finally got on the scoreboard with a goal from Carter Stevens, his 12th of the season, with the assists going to Patrick Babin and Leo Serlin, cutting Sudbury’s lead to 3-1 heading into the third period.
Alex McLean for Guelph scored his seventh goal of the season less than half a minute into the third period, assisted by Jaakko Wycisk and Wil McFadden, bringing the Storm to within striking distance, now trailing by a 3-2 score.
With 13:18 left in the third, Pharand scored his second of the game, assisted by Nathan Villeneuve, making the score 4-2 for Sudbury.
Pharand completed the hat trick with 4:34 remaining in the game, with an empty net goal, with Kieron Walton and Artem Gonchar picking up the assists, restoring Sudbury’s three goal lead by a score of 5-2.
Captain Nathan Villeneuve finished the scoring with 1:15 remaining in the game, assisted by Alex Pharand and Kieron Walton, sealing a 6-2 victory for the Sudbury Wolves over the Guelph Storm.
The Sudbury Wolves are going on their holiday break and return to the ice on Tuesday, Dec. 30 at the Sudbury Community Arena against the Kitchener Rangers, with puck drop 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].