Local veterans were honoured at Sudbury Arena on Sunday afternoon as the Sudbury Wolves hosted their annual Remembrance Day game ahead of Nov. 11 on Tuesday.
Prior to the teams taking the ice for the annual match played in honour of local war veterans, a game that has been sponsored by Sudbury.com for several years, a special Nov. 11 ceremony was held on the ice.
With a memorial cross set up on the ice and wreathes laid in front, a colour party and pipe band paraded onto the ice. Dan Draper, the area administrator for the UN/NATO Veterans of Canada, served an emcee for the occasion.
The ceremony involved the playing of “The Last Post” and “The Lament”, prior to the traditional recitation of the Act of Remembrance and “In Flander’s Fields”.
Joining UN/NATO Veterans and members of the 2912 Sudbury Irish Royal Canadian Cadet Corps on the ice for the ceremony were sisters Bonnie Courchesne and Kathy O’Neill, the daughters of Second World War veteran Gerald “Gerry” Wagner of Sudbury, who passed away July 19 at the age of 100.
Born and raised in Pembroke, Wagner came to the Sudbury area in 1941, states his obituary on Sudbury.com. Married to Ivy Hodgins in 1944 in Creighton, he worked for the Smith and Travers Diamond Drilling until he joined the war effort.
Wagner served in England, Italy, Belgium, Holland and Germany, and then spent another year in occupied Germany before returning home in 1946 and becoming an active community member and volunteer.
He joined the Creighton Mine Library Board, represented Trinity United Church Lively on the Walden Cemetery Board, serving as chair of the board. Wagner was an elder of the Creighton Fraternity United Church and then also of the Trinity United Church in Lively.
As a war veteran, he was an active member of Lockerby Royal Canadian Legion Branch 564. He was also an active member of Sudbury Oddfellows Lodge 282, for which he was a past grandmaster of Ontario, a past grand patriarch of Ontario.
After returning from the war, Wagner worked for INCO for 34 years. In 1992, he received the Decoration of Chivalry for his work with the Oddfellows, the highest honour the group bestows on its members, his obituary states. Wagner was also a proud recipient of a King Charles Coronation Medal, which he received on March 24 of this year, on the occasion of his 100th birthday.
After the Remembrance Day ceremony came to an end and the band marched off the colours, it was time for the hockey game.
Wolves suffer sixth straight loss
Despite a strong comeback attempt after falling behind 5-1, the Sudbury Wolves fell 5-4 on Sunday afternoon against the Peterborough Petes. The Pack’s sixth straight loss drops their record to 4-14-1, which has the Wolves sitting all the way back in last place in the Ontario Hockey League.
The result was a disappointing turnaround for the Wolves, who were hoping to repeat their commanding 8-2 win over the Petes from Oct. 26.
Easton Rye was the starting goaltender for the Peterborough Petes while Owen Leonard got the start between the pipes for the Sudbury Wolves.
Barely one minute into the hockey game, the Peterborough Petes found themselves with a 1-0 lead thanks to Yanis Lutz’s third goal of the season on a bad angle shot, assisted by Leon Kolarik and Grayden Strohack.
With 1:27 remaining in the first, Colin Fitzgerald scored his fourth goal of the season with a slap shot on Leonard’s blocker side, with the lone assist going to Blake Gowan, giving the Peterborough Petes a 2-0 lead after the opening 20 minutes of play.
Aiden Young put the puck behind Leonard 1:08 into the second period after deking around a Sudbury defenceman, an unassisted goal, increasing Peterborough’s lead to 3-0.
Just 5:07 into the middle frame, the Peterborough Petes made their lead even more comfortable after Adam Novotny scored his 11th goal of the season off a rebound from a slapshot from the point, assisted by Matthew Perreault and Gowan, making the score 4-0 for the Peterborough Petes.
After the fourth goal, the Wolves pulled Owen Leonard for backup goaltender Karsen Chartier.
At the 11:33 mark of the second, with Peterborough’s Leon Kolarik serving a two-minute minor penalty for tripping, the Sudbury Wolves finally found their way on the scoreboard. Rowan Henderson’s third goal of the season took advantage of a failed clearing attempt by Peterborough, assisted by Artem Gonchar and Daniel Berehowsky, making the score 4-1 for the Petes.
With just under five minutes left to play in the second, Aiden Young shot the puck on net while close to the boards and scored his fourth goal of the season, assisted by Braydon McCallum, putting Peterborough up by a score of 5-1 heading into the third and final period of the hockey game.
At the 11:09 mark of the third, Seattle Kraken prospect and Sudbury Wolves Captain Nathan Villeneuve scored his seventh goal of the season, completing a well-executed passing play, assisted by Kieron Walton and Luca Blonda, making the score 5-2 for Peterborough.
Half a minute later, newcomer Gonchar put the puck behind Rye from just inside Peterborough’s blue line for his second goal of the season, assisted by Liam Ladds and Rowan Henderson, closing the gap to 5-3.
With 2:31 left in the game, Henderson picked up a bouncing puck off of the boards and scored his fourth goal of the season, with the assists going to Blonda and Villeneuve, bringing the score to 5-4.
That’s as close as the Sudbury Wolves would come this afternoon, falling just short in a 5-4 loss against the Peterborough Petes.
The Sudbury Wolves remain at home for a game against the Erie Otters on Nov. 14, 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].