The View from S2, December 13, 2025

The View from Section 2, December 13, 2025

Wolves Defeat Attack in Shootout

By T Puck

The Sudbury Wolves continued their four-game homestand Friday night with a visit from the Owen Sound Attack.

It was Teddy Bear Toss night at the Elgin Street barn.

The Wolves welcomed Liam Ladds back to the lineup. Rookie Patrik Ula made his debut in the OHL.

Chase Coughlan and Hudson Chitaroni remained sidelined with injuries.

The starting goaltenders in this contest were Matthew Koprowski for the Attack and Karsen Chartier for the Wolves.

Owen Sound took the lead at 5:49. Caden Taylor won a puck battle near the Sudbury blueline. All of the Wolves defenders had left their zone, looking for a quick break out. Taylor relayed the puck to Tristan Deslile, who had all day to decide what to do in front of Chartier. Chartier stopped the original shot, but Delisle scored on the rebound.

The Attack took a two-goal lead 78 seconds later. Nicholas Sykora corralled a loose puck in the Wolves zone, and he fired a wrist shot from the slot over the glove of Chartier. Jake Crawford and David Bedkowski had assists on the goal.

Sudbury got on the board at 9:30 on a strange sequence. An Owen Sound player directed a discarded stick into a moving puck. Kieron Walton was chosen to take the penalty shot. On the penalty shot, Walton made a nice backhand deke beating Koprowski over the pad. This goal sent thousands of teddy bears onto the ice at the Elgin Street barn.

Owen Sound regained their two-goal lead at 15:16, just after the expiration of a power play. Lenny Greenberg moved the puck to Tristan Delisle above the right circle. Delisle made a pass to Pierce Mbuyi in the right circle. His one-time shot beat Chartier.

The Wolves replied 74 seconds later. Alex Pharand won a puck battle behind the Owen Sound net. He made a short pass to Kieron Walton. Walton made an alert pass to Gavin Ewles in the slot. His wrist shot beat Koprowski.

The Attack restored their two-goal lead 74 seconds later. Pierce Mbuyi gained control of the puck behind the Sudbury net. His pass was touched by David Bedkowski, and the puck eventually went to Caden Taylor in the right circle. Taylor's wrist shot beat Chartier.

The Attack took a 4-2 advantage to the dressing room after a wild and woolly first 20 minutes.

The Attack outshot the Wolves 12-8 in the first period. Owen Sound had nine chances to score while the Wolves had seven chances to score.

Wolves coach Scott Barney removed Chartier in favour of Bjorn Bronas to begin the second period.

Sudbury ran into penalty trouble in a four-minute stretch between the sixth minute and the ninth minute of the second period. The third ranked Attack power play took full advantage.

While enjoying a two-man advantage, Owen Sound made it 5-2 at 6:32. Jake Crawford moved to the puck to John Banks in the right circle. Banks made a cross-ice pass to Braedyn Rogers just inside the top of the left circle. His one-time shot beat Bronas.

The Attack had another two-man advantage, and they scored on this power play. Caden Taylor moved the puck to John Banks at the point. Banks spotted Wesley Royston at the corner of the Sudbury crease, and Royston slammed the puck past Bronas at 8:06.

Owen Sound had a comfortable lead, and they appeared to be cruising to victory.

The good karma from the teddy bears had a delayed reaction, impacting the collective Wolves team just before the midway point of the second period.

Sudbury cut into the Owen Sound lead at 9:03 while they were playing shorthanded. Ethan Dean and Rowan Henderson went on an odd-man rush. A pass by Dean from the left circle found Henderson in the Owen Sound slot, and Henderson fired a wrist shot past Koprowski.

The Wolves made it 6-4 on the power play at 12:12. A pass from the left point by Nathan Villeneuve found Kieron Walton in the right circle. Walton fired off a pass that was intended for Daniel Berehowsky, but it was redirected to, and then by goaltender Koprowski directly to Daniel Berehowsky, who fired the rebound into the Owen Sound net.

Sudbury made it a one-goal game 106 seconds later. Patrick Ula made a pass to Hudson Martin at the left point. Martin moved the puck to Artem Gonchar just inside the right point. The Gonchar shot deflected off an Owen Sound offender past Koprowski.

The Wolves tied proceedings one minute later. Jan Chovan gained possession the puck along the Owen Sound right boards. He made a short pass to Kieron Walton further up the boards. Walton spotted Nathan Villeneuve in the lower right circle. Villeneuve moved from the right circle to the slot, and he faked like he was going to go around Koprowski. Koprowski opened his pads, and Villeneuve went five-hole to tie the game at 6-6.

The Sudbury Wolves had fashioned a most unlikely comeback in 5:55 of playing time.

The teams were tied 6-6 after forty minutes of play.

The Wolves outshot the Attack 14-4 in the second period. Sudbury had 11 chance to score while limiting the Attack to three chances to score.

T Puck was running out of toes to count the goals, so he readied his abacus for use in the third period.

The abacus was not required, as Attack goaltender Matthew Koprowski was the star of the third period. He turned away a penalty shot attempt by Nathan Villeneuve early in the period. He also made a tremendous stop on Villeneuve later in the period.

The final frame was scoreless.

Sudbury outshot Owen Sound 16-10 in the final stanza. The Wolves had 10 chances to score and the Attack had just one chance on Bronas.

The game proceeded to overtime.

In the extra session, the Wolves had the vast majority of puck possession, and most of the shots on goal. They could not find a winning marker against Koprowski.

The Wolves outshot the Attack 4-1 in overtime.

Sudbury outshot Owen Sound 43-27 through regular time and overtime.

The game proceeded to a shootout.

The Wolves entered uncharted waters, engaging in their first shootout of the 2025-2026 campaign.

A first-round goal by Nicholas Sykora gave the Attack the early advantage.

The Wolves were down to their last shot in the third round of shootout, but Daniel Berehowsky extended the shootout by beating Koprowski.

The shootout then proceeded to extra shooters. The goaltenders stood tall, stopping the fourth and fifth shooters of the shootout.

In the sixth round, Nathan Villeneuve moved in from the left side, and he cut across the Attack crease, before potting a backhand over the pad of Koprowski.

The Attack's Lenny Greenberg was forced to score to extend the shootout, but he was denied by Bjorn Bronas.

The Sudbury Wolves mobbed Bronas, and they skated off the ice at the Sudbury Arena with an improbable 7-6 victory.

Credits and critiques

The Attack and the Wolves came into Friday night's contest as the two most scored upon teams in the OHL. This game lived up to the advanced billing. It was an entertaining game for the fans, but frankly, defence by both teams was optional.

The announced crowd of 3,717 was thoroughly entertained throughout this three hour plus marathon contest. This game had a little bit of everything, plenty of goals, power play goals, shorthanded goals, penalty shots, good saves and teddy bears. Who could want much more?

Karsen Chartier could not be blamed for many of the goals scored on him in the first period. The Wolves’ defence was porous in the opening twenty minutes. The defence remains a major area of concern going forward.

This game had no business going to a shootout. Sudbury had 31 chances to score in the game, and they managed just six goals. By contrast, the Attack scored six goals on 14 scoring chances. This game should have been done and dusted by Sudbury well before overtime.

On a more positive note, 11 of the 18 skaters deployed by the Wolves Friday night had at least one scoring point. It was encouraging to see balanced scoring, The offense was led by Kieron Walton, who had a goal and three assists on the evening.

This was a much-needed victory. The Wolves remain seven points in arrears of a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

The Wolves return to action Sunday afternoon at the Elgin Street barn, as they meet the Brampton Steelheads.

T Puck may have a novel idea to improve the Wolves goaltending. Tell each goaltender that is dressed that they will both see action on Sunday afternoon. Coach Scott Barney can remind them that it is not as important who starts the game, but perhaps, it is of greater importance who finishes the game. One wonders if the two-goaltender solution could be the catalyst to commence a winning streak prior to the Christmas break.