A pair of opponents, one with almost double the point total of the Sudbury Wolves, the other merely 23 points ahead and the results were somewhat predictable. The local juniors opened up their three game weekend with losses at the hands of both the Barrie Colts (4-1) and Kitchener Rangers (5-2).

And throughout both games, there wasn't so much a sense that the Wolves played badly, but moreso that they were simply matched against superior opposition. In Barrie on Thursday night, the Colts picked up victory number 31 in their past 34 games, and their sixth straight win while facing the Wolves.

The visitors actually opened the scoring as Eric O'Dell netted his 25th goal of the year just over five minutes in, but that would be the only puck that Mike Foligno's troops would get past Barrie netminder Peter Di Salvo. By the time that the Eastern Conference leaders had countered with power play markers from both Alex Pietrangelo and Alex Hutchings, the home town Colts would have all the offense they would need on this night.

Hutchings added his second of the game in the middle frame and Bryan Cameron finds the empty net with just 20 seconds remaining as Barrie limits Sudbury to just 22 shots on net in total, very few of which could be classified as great scoring chances. While Barrie is clearly gearing up for an extended playoff run, the Wolves' cause was not aided by on-going injury and illness woes.

Second year defenseman Jake Cardwell remains out of action, his last game back on December 12th as he has apparently been diagnosed with mononucleosis. Eddie Rinke is also sidelined with concussions symptoms, Kain Allicock was knocked out of the contest after taking a much-debated hit through the neutral zone (at least it was much debated in Sudbury one night later), while netminder Andrew Loverock dressed, but remained as backup to starting goalie Alain Valiquette.

On a more positive note, the Wolves did welcome back forward Matias Sointu, who missed a handful of games after sustaining a facial injury. Back at home on Friday, a slow start spelled doom for the local juniors as Kitchener opened up a 4-1 lead by early in the second and tightened defensively, chalking up a 5-2 win.

Sudbury appeared to give the Rangers a little too much respect early on as the league's third highest scoring team added to their total just 97 seconds in. Jeff Skinner bangs home his own rebound after drilling a shot off the post for his 37th goal of the year, tops among all OHLers to get the visitors off and running.

The home squad catch a break some three minutes later as Sointu's intended pass for Marcus Foligno in front of the Kitchener net goes in off the stick of goaltender Brandon Maxwell, knotting the contest at one. But the Rangers add two more in the first, courtesy of Tyler Randell and Jason Akeson, while Julian Cimadamore increases the lead to three just 29 seconds in the middle stanza.

That would spell the end for sudbury goaltender Andrew Loverock, who made a handful of big time saves in his period plus of playing time, but also seemed not quite in synch on a couple of Kitchener goals. Enter Alain Valiquette and a move that seems to breathe new life into the Wolves, who played much better hockey over the final forty minutes or so.

They are rewarded with their second goal of the evening as Marcus Foligno wrist a shot home from a weak angle to make it 4-2, a score that would remain intact until the game's final minute when Akeson registers his second of the night into an empty Sudbury cage. More injury woes as Allicock is scratched along with defenseman Josh McFadden, with Sudbury calling up Jr Wolves forward Jordan Mills, who saw very limited action.

Coach Foligno and company will attempt to salvage one game out of the weekend by extending their season-long dominance of the Brampton Battalion Sunday afternoon on the road. While the Wolves have registered five consecutive wins over Stan Butler's crew this year, none of the games have been excessively one-sided, making it a real challenge for Sudbury to continue coming out on top in this matchup.