The View from Section 2, December 19, 2025

Wolves Post Solid Road Effort in Defeating Colts

By T Puck.

Sudbury Wolves completed their first-half road schedule Thursday night with a visit to Barrie to take on the Barrie Colts.

The lineups for each team were depleted Thursday night, as a number of players were at their respective countries training camps in preparation for the World Junior Hockey Championship. The Wolves was missing Jan Chovan and the Colts were missing Emil Hemming, Kashawn Aitcheson and Cole Beaudoin.

Hudson Chitaroni remained out of the lineup for the Wolf.

The starting goaltenders in the game were Bjorn Bronas for the Wolves and Ben Hrebik for the Colts.

The Wolves had good early jump in this contest.

Sudbury opened the scoring in this game just after the midway point of the first period.

Luca Blonda moved the puck to Vladimir Provorov. Provorov made a good return pass two Blonda. Blonda skated with the puck, and he retrieved the puck behind the Barrie goal. Blonda made a nice backhand pass to Alex Pharand, who had stationed himself in the right circle. A quick wrist shot by Pharand beat Hrebik at 10:15.

The Wolves doubled their advantage at 13:01. Luca Blonda made a nice solo rush into the Barrie zone. His rush was stopped, but the puck found its way to the stick of Chase Coughlan. Coughlan made a short pass to Alex Pharand, and Pharand fired a wrist shot that beat Hrebik.

Sudbury was full value for their two-goal lead after 20 minutes of play.

The Wolves outshot the Colts 18-9. The Wolves had nine chances to score and the Colts had four chances to score.

Barrie replied with a quick goal 0:59 into the middle stanza. Gabriel Eliasson found Alex Assadourian with a long pass at the Wolves blueline. Assadourian fired a shot from the high slot that was stopped by Bronas. The rebound went to Nicholas Desiderio in front, and he fired the puck past the Sudbury goalkeeper.

The Colts played very undisciplined hockey in the second period. The Wolves had some long stretches of power-play time.

The Wolves scored on a two-man advantage at 11:48. Kieron Walton made a nice pass to Artem Gonchar in the high slot. Gonchar moved the puck to Nathan Villeneuve, and a one-time shot by Villeneuve from the right circle beat Hrebik.

The Wolves maintained their two-goal advantage after 40 minutes of play.

Sudbury outshot Barrie 16-9 in the middle stanza. The Wolves had 10 chances to score and the Colts had six chances to score.

The Wolves put to rest any thought that they may not have the gas in the tank necessary to take this victory home very early in the final stanza. Nathan Villeneuve made a short pass to Kieron Walton on the left wing. Walton had a long rush, and he fired a low shot from the Barrie left circle that beat Hrebik at 1:34. Trevor O'Dell had the secondary assist on the goal.

The Wolves did an excellent job protecting the three-goal lead. They played smart, conservative hockey, and they dumped the puck out of their zone with regularity. They also pressed the issue offensively, and they had some good chances to add additional goals.

Sudbury was never really pressed by the Colts in the third period.

The Wolves snagged only their third road victory of the season, a 4-1 triumph over the Barrie Colts.

Sudbury silenced the crowd of 3,405 in attendance at the contest.

The Wolves outshot the Colts 13-11 in the third period.

The Wolves had six chances to score in the third period and the Colts had four chances to score.

The Wolves outshot the Colts 47-28 in the contest.

Credits and critiques

Thursday nights triumph was a much-needed victory for the Sudbury Wolves.

Sudbury played an excellent road game on Thursday night.

There were a lot of things to like about Thursday's performance.

The Wolves played solid defensive hockey, limiting the Colts to 14 scoring chances in the game. They played with a solid defensive structure. They also hunted the puck in packs, making it difficult for the Colts shooters to get good scoring chances.

When the defence plays well, the goaltender looks much better. Bjorn Bronas did not have to make a lot of great saves, but he was steady when he was required to be.

The Wolves played an effective puck possession game. They had several sequences where they had lengthy amounts of puck possession in the Barrie zone, including when the teams were at even strength. If this can continue, this will be a good omen for the future.

Alex Pharand has been much maligned in this space, but he had an excellent game on Thursday night. He scored two goals, and he looked dangerous on other occasions. He often scores in bunches, so it may be that Pharand may be on the verge of one of his hot streaks. Pharand was named the first star of the game.

Luca Blonda had an excellent game. What T Puck liked about Blonda's performance was that he stayed within himself and he played within the team concept.

Kieron Walton produced another excellent individual effort, and he added an assist to the attack. Walton was named the second star of the game.

Sudbury took advantage of a Colts team that played an undisciplined style of hockey.

With the victory, the Wolves are now only three points behind the Niagara Ice Dogs for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

The Wolves Scoring Chance Board Thursday night was as follows:

Alex Pharand-five scoring chances, two goals

Kieron Walton-four scoring chances, one goal

Nathan Villeneuve-two scoring chances, one goal

Rowan Henderson-four scoring chances

Daniel Berehowsky-four scoring chances

Gavin Ewles-one scoring chance

Artem Gonchar-one scoring chance

Trevor O'Dell-one scoring chance

Ethan Dean-one scoring chance

Blake Clayton-one scoring chance

Chase Coughlan-one scoring chance

The Wolves complete the pre-Christmas portion of their season Friday night when they entertain the Guelph Storm.

T Puck reminds readers that parking could be difficult on Friday night, so you may need to get to the area around the Sudbury Arena a bit earlier than normal.

Look for Bjorn Bronas to get the start on Friday night.