Skip to content

Lack of discipline hands Wolves 18th straight loss

The way Sudbury Wolves interim head coach Dave Matsos sees it, the players have no where else to lay blame but on themselves after losing 5-3 to the visiting Plymouth Whalers Wednesday night at Sudbury Community Arena.
The way Sudbury Wolves interim head coach Dave Matsos sees it, the players have no where else to lay blame but on themselves after losing 5-3 to the visiting Plymouth Whalers Wednesday night at Sudbury Community Arena.

It was costly penalties once again that put the Wolves in tough situations and allowed the Whalers to take over the game and hand the Wolves their 18th loss in as many games. Sudbury matched Plymouth man-for-man and shift-for-shift for most of the first half of the game, and were even tied 1-1 after the first period. Former four-year Wolves player Mathew Campagna opened the scoring at 14:06. Sudbury’s Kyle Capobianco tied it on the power play at 16:06. It quickly unravelled in the second period as the Wolves pushed the edge too far and took one too many trips to the sin bin.

“It was a self-inflicted loss,” Matsos said. “The first period, I thought we battled really well. We were level on shots. We had some bad bounces. We were challenging their defence down low and getting scoring chances out of it. Then once again, we put a gun to our own head, taking mindless penalties. There are penalties you can accept, but the ones that were taken 200 feet from our net … we just can’t have it in our game. We’re not gifted enough to take games over. The games have to be managed properly by our guys and they’re just not doing it at all.”

Matsos implored the players to be mindful of their actions during play and after whistles. The Wolves entered the game having taken 18 penalties over the previous three games. A severe lack of discipline is taking all the steam out and putting the Wolves in a desperate hole every game. It has to stop or the losses are going to continue to pile up. Sudbury took five penalties against Plymouth, including two on the same play, which put them down 5-on-3 for a full two minutes.

The Whalers tallied three power-play goals enroute to victory. Making matters worse against Plymouth was the fact Sudbury lost the services of two of their top penalty killers in forward Pavel Jenys (game misconduct in first period for removing another players helmet during a fight) and defenceman Jeff Corbett (injured after being crushed into the boards from behind.) Having those two players out compounded the Wolves' misery.

“It’s like taking a knife to a gun fight,” Matsos equated the player losses to. “I thought every penalty we took was preventable and shouldn’t have happened. I don’t sympathize for us one bit. Not after that. We put ourselves behind the eight-ball.”

In the second period, Plymouth took a 2-1 lead when Sonny Milano scored on the power play. The Wolves matched it right back when Matt Schmalz finished off a play and scored on the power play to make it 2-2 at 15:25.

The Whalers surged ahead just a few seconds later when Josh Wesley blasted a shot in from the point off a faceoff win to make it 3-2. Before the middle frame was up, the Whalers Gianluca Curcuruto hammered in a point drive on the power play to stake the Whalers to a 4-2 lead. Plymouth held on in the third period and won 5-3. Nicholas Caamano scored the other goal for Plymouth, while Chad Heffernan tallied a late power-play marker to make the score more respectable.

Despite the loss and frequent trips to the penalty box, the Wolves weren’t throwing each other under the bus.

“We’re a team, so when someone does it (take a penalty), we take it as a team and we don’t look to point fingers,” Heffernan said. “We have to find more discipline. We’re working hard. If we can get some of those lucky bounces, that we need, I think it could find us on the upside of some games. Hard work can only do so much. Any time you’re that close and you end up losing, it hurts.”

The Wolves don’t hide the fact suffering 18 losses in as many games is weighing them down. They are staying positive. The Wolves are assuring everyone they are not even close to packing it in. They will fight to the bitter end of the season.

“It definitely hurts, but I think we‘re starting to be in games” Capobianco said about the losing streak. “We’re showing we still have the will and the want to win. I think we’re just not getting the bounces right now.”

The Whalers haven’t exactly been overwhelming teams over this season, picking up their 17th win of the campaign against Sudbury. Former Wolves player Campagna enjoyed a brilliant game with a goal and four points before being ejected for a slew-footing match penalty in the third period. It was a strange feeling for Campagna to be back in Sudbury and wearing different colours.

“It feels awkward to be here playing for Plymouth,” Campagna said. “I wore a Wolves jersey for four years. I will always cherish my time in Sudbury. It changed me from a 16-year-old kid into a man. My experience in Plymouth has been great and they have treated me well. We have struggled this season, but we have had a lot of injuries to top players. It’s still a lot of fun.”

Sudbury hits the road for its next two games as they play Guelph Friday night and finish up in Barrie on Saturday.

Game notes
-The three stars of the game were: Gianluca Curcuruto (first), Mathew Campagna (second) and Kyle Capobianco (third).
-Sudbury scratched Trenton Bourque and Reagan O’Grady.
-Plymouth scratched Alex Peters, Tyler Sensky, Bryce Yetman, Yannick Rathgeb and Jacob Collins.

Comments

Verified reader

If you would like to apply to become a verified commenter, please fill out this form.