Photo Bob Davies
In front of a season high 4,600+ Ontario Hockey League fans in Sault Ste Marie, the 5th place (10-13-6-4) west division took to the ice at the Memorial Gardens to host the fourth place (11-17-3) Sudbury Wolves in an afternoon matinee looking to end a four game losing streak.
From the right side of Greyhound netminder Samuel Ivanov, Nick DeGarzia slides the opening goal under the Soo netminder’s right pad 46 seconds into the contest to give the Wolves a 1 – 0 lead. Landon McCallum and Andre Aanania added the helpers on DeGarzia’s goal. At 8:19, Tyler Savard sinks his ninth of the season to pull the Soo even 1 – 1 with Bryce McConnell-Barker and Mark Duarte nothcing the assists on Savard’s powerplay goal. Sudbury’s Ethan Larmand picks a rebound off of the boards behind Ivanov’s net to find the back of Greyhounds net 12:57 into the period. Former Greyhound defenseman Jacob Holmes and Landon McCallum drew the helpers on Larmand’s go-ahead powerplay goal. Jordan D’Intino picks a Soo rebound to fires slapshot from the top of the left faceoff circle to even the game 2 – 2 for the Greyhounds at 14:25 of the opening period. Andrew Gibson and Kirill Kudryavstev added the assists on D’Intino’s fourth game goal streak. With costly Tyler Savard turnover at the Soo blueline, Evan Konyon breaks in on Ivanov with the Wolves breakaway to find the Soo netminder’s five hole to give Sudbury a lead to 3 – 2 at the 6:06 mark of the second. David Goyette catches a Quentin Musty cross ice pass to bring the visitors lead to 4 – 2 at 8:41. Kocha Delic had the other helper on Goyette’s goal.
Mark Duarte registers his 13th of the season after firing a shot on the Wolves net to be deflected by a Sudbury blueliner at 13:27 to pull the Greyhounds within one. Kudryavstev and McConnell-Barker drew the assists on Duarte’s powerplay goal. 46 seconds into the third period, Goyette gives the Wolves their two goal lead bacl with finding the back of Ivanov’s net from the right faceoff circle to bring the Wolves lead to 5 – 3. Delic and Landon McCallum setup Goyette’s powerplay goal. 69 seconds into the final period and scoring his third of the season, Matthew Virgilio rifles a snapshot through Sudbury goaltender Joe Ranger’s five hole from the right faceoff circle to close the gap to one. Brenden Sirizzotti and Caeden Carlisle notched the helpers on Virgilio’s goal. Tying the game 5 – 5 for the Greyhounds, Sirizzotti finds the back of the Wolves net with his eighth of the season and first in a Soo jersey at 6:30 with Landon Hookey and Ryan Thompson drawing the contributors. DeGarzia gives the Wolves a 6 – 5 lead at 14:03 with a snapshot over Ivanov’s right shoulder at 14:03 with Landon McCallum adding the lone helper. With Samuel Ivanov on the Greyhound bench for an extra attacker with 90 seconds remaining in the final Greyhound game of 2022, DeGarzia registers a hat trick into the Soo’s net to give the Wolves a 7 – 5 win over the Soo. Delic and Goyette had the assists on DeGarzia’s empty net goal. Sudbury goaltender Joe Ranger stopped 22 of 27 shots in the win while Soo netminder Samuel Ivanov turned away 27 of 33 shots in the Greyhounds fourth straight loss.
The Greyhounds will head into 2023 with a midweek clash on Wednesday, January 4th when they host the Kitchener Rangers in a 7:07 p.m puck drop.
