Five on five, the Sudbury Wolves were not in bad shape at all this past Sunday afternoon in Stouffville.

Unfortunately for the nickel city crew, the Kingston Frontenacs netted a short-handed goal in the first period followed by a pair of power play markers 50 seconds apart in the opening minute of period two, increasing their lead to 5-1 before the Wolves rallied and made a game of it, dropping a 6-4 decision in their final pre-season encounter.

Sudbury opened the scoring just 46 seconds in when a dump in from Rowan Henderson (stationed at centre ice) somehow eluded Kingston netminder Gavin Betts, giving the Wolves the early lead.

Landon Wright pulled the Frontenacs even at 6:39 of the first and Ty Robar drove the net hard with his team one man down six minutes later, sending the teams to their dressing rooms with Kingston holding a 2-1 advantage.

By the five minute mark of the second period, the gap had increased to 5-1 courtesy of strikes from Andrew Kuzma, Nolan Snyder and Landon Wright, all with Sudbury starter Finn Marshall still between the posts.

Karsen Chartier came in midway through the middle stanza as the Wolves began to find their footing again, with Kimani Eccleston making it a three-goal game.

Though outshot 11-8 in the final frame, Sudbury made the most of their chances as Vladimir Provorov and Blake Clayton hit paydirt, the Frontenacs clinching the win on a quasi empty-net goal by Lukas Moore (Chartier was halfway to the bench when the puck was fired in the vacated cage).

On Monday, the Wolves finalized their overage situation, at least for the time being, shipping defenceman Noah Roberts to the Owen Sound Attack in exchange for three draft picks: 3rd in 2026 (Owen Sound), 5th in 2028 (Peterborough) and 5th in 2029 (Owen Sound).

The Wolves will open the 2025-2026 season at home Friday night opposite the North Bay Battalion before playing four straight on the road: vs Niagara Ice Dogs (Sept 21st); vs Windsor Spitfires (Sept 25th); vs Sarnia Sting (Sept 26th); vs Brantford Bulldogs (Sept 27th).

The local juniors actually will contest seven of their first nine games away from the friendly confines of the Sudbury Arena, with North Bay being the only team who will visit the Wolves prior to October 17th (when the Soo Greyhounds are in town).