Wolves beat Frontenacs 3-1

Sudbury Wolves forward Matt Schmalz couldn’t help himself and, also, couldn’t stop himself.

After the Wolves defeated the Kingston Frontenacs 3-1 Saturday at Sudbury Community Arena, Schmalz skated towards goaltender Troy Timpano repeatedly throwing his arms into the air with the biggest smile on his face.

Schmalz was happy, and the big guy’s enthusiasm had the crowd roaring for more, and teammates loving it.

And why not? Schmalz had scored two goals, including the game winner.

The victory also marked the first time this season the team had won back-to-back games. Schmalz’s first goal of the game ignited the fans into a loud cheer, but also allowed them to throw onto the ice more than a thousand stuffed toys for charity. Again, Schmalz had his arms high up in the air and waving around.

“The first goal, I didn’t know what to do because it was the teddy bear goal, so I was just trying to get the fans to throw them right away,” Schmalz said. “I just wanted to get the crowd into it. The atmosphere was amazing. I haven’t heard it that loud in a while.”

The win gave Sudbury seven on the season. The first two-and-a-half months gave the Wolves little to smile about. Winning two games in a row may seem like an insignificant event to most OHL teams, but to this Sudbury club, it meant everything.

“No words can describe what is going on in the room right now,” Schmalz said. “We are super excited. There’s a lot of momentum and confidence. Confidence is huge, especially for the young guys. Once the confidence is going, it is hard to stop. We keep going. It’s a good feeling.”

This was not a clear-cut victory. The Wolves once again had to roll up their sleeves and get down and dirty for three periods to beat Kingston. Sudbury head coach Paul Fixter checked off a list of things that were done the right way, including finishing hits, strong defensive play, physical play and no quit by all players from rookies to overagers.

“We’re playing hard,” Fixter said. “We’re playing physical. I think we’re playing an entertaining brand of hockey right now. We have to have buy-in from everybody and I think the guys are recognizing limiting scoring chances allows us the opportunity to win games. Everybody is contributing. Everybody is doing something to get their ice time.”

Kingston struck first when Robert Polesello scored at 4:10 of the second period after being allowed to skate around the offensive zone unchecked and tucking the puck past Timpano. Sudbury answered back with a power play goal as Schmalz barged to the net and got the puck past Kingston goalie Lucas Peressini at 14:29 of the second period.

The teams battled one another throughout the third and traded decent chances. A late goal by Schmalz at 17:50 put Sudbury ahead 2-1 and for good. Forward Nathan Pancel added an insurance marker when he tallied an empty-net goal to give the Wolves a 3-1 win.

Being physical was a key element in the team’s two weekend wins (Sudbury beat Windsor 3-0 Friday night). Expect the Wolves to keep dishing out the punishment.
“The physicality was way up,” rookie Michael Pezzetta said. “I think we’re going to continue to play like that. Having teams play physical against you, it’s not easy to play like that. So being like that against other teams is just going to make us harder to play against and allow us to be successful.”

It wasn’t all smash and crash play that resulted in success this weekend. It was the details that played a major factor such as chipping pucks off the boards, limiting turnovers at the blueline, not carrying the puck through the middle of the ice.

“All the little things add up and helped us get the win,” Sudbury forward Jacob Harris said. “We’ve been playing really well the past four or five games. We just weren’t getting the results and now we’re finally getting them. We know if we keep playing the right way, we’re going to keep winning some games.”

The Frontenacs were not a full club and were missing some key regulars. Head coach Paul McFarland accepts no excuses and expects his club to give each team they face a run for their money.

“The thing I like about our team is they don’t take games off,” McFarland said. “The kids come prepared to play and have a high standard of hard work. The key for us is playing fast defence to create turnovers. When we do that, we have success.”

The Wolves are back in action on Dec. 19 when they host the Barrie Colts. Game time is 7:30 p.m.

Game notes

The three stars of the game were: Troy Timpano (first), Matt Schmalz (second) and Jacob Harris (third).
Sudbury scratched Brody Milne, Brody Silk and Pavel Jenys.
Kingston scratched Ryan Kujawinski, Lawson Crouse, Sam Bennett and Spencer Watson.
It was the annual teddy bear toss game for Sudbury. After the first goal by the Wolves, fans rained down more than 1,200 stuffed toys for donation to kids at Christmas.