As part of my role as team statistician for the Sudbury Wolves, my job description includes the preparation of weekly media notes, featuring various tidbits of information regarding upcoming games.

While these notes have generally been confined to circulating among media types and club officials, it seemed likely that fans of the local OHL team might also have an interest in the odds and ends that I might come across on a weekly basis.

Not only did the Sudbury Wolves register a much-needed victory Saturday night at home against the Saginaw Spirit, but they did so with the type of emotional comeback late in the game that can provide a springboard to better play ahead. Good thing as the local juniors will need it with a pair of worthy adversaries making their way north to start the upcoming week.

After scoring two goals in the final 94 seconds to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat versus the spirit, the Wolves would be more than happy to continue with a trend of dramatic triumphs. A home encounter with the Barrie Colts is not a bad place to start as the teams have seen at least one of their head to head matchups decided in either overtime or a shootout in seven of the last eight years.

That said, over the course of 248 total encounters, Sudbury has only a singular shootout win versus the Colts to show for all of their hard work. The triumph in question came back on January 18th (2013). Michael Kantor and Jeff Corbett of the Wolves had traded regulation tallies off with goals from Anthony Camara and Jake Dotchin – with a scoreless overtime session setting the stage for the one on one showdowns.

Sudbury netminder Franky Palazzese turned aside three Barrie shooters, including future NHLer Andrea Athanasiou while Nicholas Baptiste followed up on a miss from Dominik Kahun, solving Barrie goaltender Alex Fotinos for the win.

No matter how you spin it, the Sudbury Wolves’ franchise numbers opposite the London Knights are not pretty. The perennial OHL powerhouse are making their one and only regular season visit of 2025-2026 to the Sudbury Arena this Friday, after left town with a victory in hand in no less than 11 of the past 12 meetings.

On November 24th (2023), the Wolves snapped a ten game home losing streak to the Knights – and doing so in style with a 9-2 scoreline. There was no lack of offensive outbursts from the homeside as Quentin Musty (3G + 2A), David Goyette (G + 3A) and Dalibor Dvorsky (G + 2A).

As many Wolves fans are aware, Dvorsky has already started to make his presence felt at the NHL level, finding the back of the net against both the Edmonton Oilers and the Seattle Kraken as part of the 11 games in which he has appeared in the lineup for the St Louis Blues.

The Wolves close out this week with a Sunday afternoon road game against the Brampton Steelheads, the first of the six times the teams would do battle this year. Realistically, the Steelheads are one of the two teams that Sudbury most likely has to overcome in order to secure a playoff berth (Oshawa Generals being the other), with Brampton currently six points up on the Wolves.

If last year is any indication, this could easily be a back and forth affair. Sudbury took four of six in 2024-2025, with three of those contests settled in overtime. Well known for their defensive acumen during their time as the St Michael’s / Mississauga Majors, the visitors have contested many a low-scoring affair, albeit not always to their benefit.

Of the nine shutouts that have been registered in games between these two franchises in Sudbury, eight have gone the way of The Pack, with the home town crew backstopped by the likes of Miguel Beaudry, Patrick Ehelechner, Kevin Beech, Franky Palazzese and others.