The Sudbury Wolves opened 2026 on home ice just the way they wanted to: with a win. And a pretty big win it was, sending the North Bay Battalion packing by a score of 6-2.
Mike McIvor got the start in goal on the road for North Bay and Paolo Frasca was once again the starting goaltender for the Sudbury Wolves.
Under three minutes into the game Carter Kostuch scored his first goal of the season from the slot area in front of the net, assisted by Daniel Berehowsky and Blake Clayton, putting Sudbury in the lead by a score of 1-0.
With 3:20 left in the opening period, Sudbury native Alex Pharand put the puck in the net for the Wolves for his 10th goal of the season after deking around two North Bay defencemen, with the assists going to Artem Gonchar and Nathan Villeneuve, giving the Wolves a 2-0 after the first period of play.
At the 4:37 mark of the second period, and with the Sudbury Wolves serving a two-minute bench minor penalty for having too many men in the ice, Nick Wellenreiter fired a slap shot through a screen past Frasca and scored on the power play, his 10th goal of the season, assisted by Jonathan Kapageridis and Evgeny Dubrovtsev, cutting Sudbury’s lead in half to 2-1.
Less than four minutes later, the Sudbury Wolves restored their two-goal lead with Kieron Walton’s 22nd goal of the season after receiving a cross ice pass from Nathan Villeneuve, making the score 3-1 for the Sudbury Wolves.
Just 16 seconds later, Ryder Carey scored his ninth goal of the season with a one timer past Frasca, with Evgeny Dubrovtsev and Carter Kunopatski picking up the assists, once again making it a one-goal game by a score of 3-2.
With 1:59 remaining in the middle frame, Sudbury’s Ethan Dean scored his second goal of the season while skating in on McIvor, with the assists going to Alex Pharand and Artem Gonchar, making the score 4-2 for the Wolves with one period left to play in the game.
The third period saw no scoring until there was just 1:10 left to play and Walton scored on the empty net for his second of the game, assisted by Rowan Henderson and Blake Clayton, expanding Sudbury’s lead to 5-2.
Ethan Dean scored his second goal of the game with just 25 seconds left to play on a scrambled play in front of the North Bay netminder, with the assists going to Vladimir Provorov and Brayden Bennett, sealing a 6-2 victory for the Sudbury Wolves over the North Bay Battalion.
The win moves the Wolves into the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference for the first time this season.
The Sudbury Wolves take on the North Bay Battalion in a rematch in North Bay tomorrow, Jan. 4, with puck drop scheduled for 2 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].