Wolves fall 6-2 to North Bay Battalion

Scoring regular strength goals has become the Achilles Heel of the Sudbury Wolves early in the season. The problem reared its ugly head again Sunday afternoon as the Wolves fell 6-2 to the visiting North Bay Battalion at Sudbury Community Arena.

The Wolves popped two power play markers, but bad defensive play and emotions of frustration boiling over combined to sink the team and helped the Battalion ring up a half dozen goals.

It is the regular strength play that has aroused the biggest concern for the players and coaches on the Wolves.

“Not scoring five-on-five goals, it is very frustrating,” Sudbury forward Danny Desrochers said. “It’s super tough. We can’t win without scoring five-on-five goals. It is crucial.”

The Wolves defensive play left a lot to be desired by all on the team. Numerous breakdowns lead to Battalion goals. Sudbury and North Bay were neck-and-neck after the first period, tied 1-1.

Kyle Wood scored for North Bay, while Sudbury’s Matt Schmalz replied on the power play.

In the second period, it began to unravel for the Wolves as North Bay scored three unanswered goals by Jared Steege, Zach Bratina and Alex Henriksson to make it 4-1. In the third period, it fell totally apart for Sudbury as penalties took their toll.

North Bay got two more goals from Mike Amadio and Nick Paul for a 6-1 lead with a little more than 10 minutes to play. Pavel Jenys scored a late power play goal for Sudbury to make the final 6-2.

“It’s a tough game to lose,” Desrochers said. “We especially can’t be happy with ourselves. We kind of gave up. We played excellent defence against the Soo (Friday night). We didn’t really play our defensive game. We just got away from our game.”

Sudbury head coach Paul Fixter summed up the performance bluntly.
“It was a bad game,” he said. “Worst game we’ve played without a doubt.”

Fixter had issues with the mistakes made by veteran players. Fixter can live with rookies and younger players making mistakes. Fixter wants to see his vets step up and play better.

“The breakdowns by older players was a little mind-boggling and very upsetting,” Fixter said. “My concern was the mistakes made from the older players ... unacceptable.”

Sudbury goalie Troy Timpano was, once again, under siege the entire game. He made 37 saves in the loss. There was no blame being laid at the goalie’s feet. Timpano was solid.

“Certainly Troy was not the reason for the loss,” Fixter said. “Troy saw a lot of rubber. Troy Timpano tried hard.”

The Wolves will be working out the issues this week and judging from Fixter’s stance, the players will be going full-tilt and be expected to fix their mistakes. The Wolves haven’t scored a regular strength goal since Game 1, and have been shutout in two out of the last three games.

Putting the puck in the net and defensive play will be at the forefront.

“Where do you want me to start?” Fixter said. “Scoring is still a concern. We’re not scoring five-on-five. If we’re not going to play defence, we have to find a way to score. We have a lot of work to do and it starts in the defensive zone.”

The Wolves undisciplined play was also a detriment. Sudbury was tagged for 10 penalties. Surprisingly, North Bay only managed one power play goal on the 10 chances. The penalty parade irked Fixter.

“As bad as we were, I thought the one official, in particular, was pretty close to us - not very good,” Fixter said.

The Wolves know they must figure out a way to balance and tip the scales in their favour when it comes to shots on net, both ways. Sudbury was out-shot by North Bay 43 to 18.

“Shots have to go up and shots against has to go down,” Sudbury defenceman Evan de Haan said. “We’re not going to win a game shooting under 20 shots.”

The Battalion are the defending Eastern Conference champions. They returned their top goalie, five of their top six defencemen and a solid group of forwards. Head coach Stan Butler has high expectations for the team this season again.

“I think there could be a construction sign on our team because we are a work in progress,” Butler said. “It will take a while to find our identity. If the players play the right way, I think we can be strong again in the conference. Making the playoffs is something we expect to do.”

Sudbury is back on the ice Wednesday when they hot the road to play the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds. Game time is 7:07 p.m. Sudbury is back on home ice on Oct. 10 when they host the Owen Sound Attack at 7:30 p.m.

Game notes

The game’s three stars were: Zach Bratina (first), Mike Amadio (second) and Pavel Jenys (third)
Sudbury scratched Chase Hawley, Devon Paliani, Nick Baptiste and Brody Milne.
North Bay scratched Mike Baird, Hampus Olsson, Mark Shoemaker and Calvin Gomes.