The View from Section 2, December 31, 2025

Wolves Extend Streak with Win over Rangers

By T Puck

The Sudbury Wolves concluded the 2025 home portion of their schedule Tuesday night, as they played host to the Kitchener Rangers.

The Wolves welcomed new acquisition Carter Kostuch to the lineup. He was acquired a few weeks ago in a trade from the Sarnia Sting.

Hudson Chitaroni remained out of the lineup. Daniel Berehowsky did not suit up because of an illness. Jan Chovan remained away at the World Juniors.

Kitchener was without the services of defenceman Chase Reid and goaltender Christian Kirsch, both of whom are at the World Juniors.

The starting goaltenders in this game were Mason Hriczov for the Rangers, making his OHL debut. He was opposed by Paolo Frasca of the Wolves, making his second start of the season.

Kitchener opened the scoring just 102 seconds into the contest. Nice passes by Dylan Edwards and Christian Humphreys set up Jack Pridham in the high slot. His wrist shot beat Frasca.

The Wolves tied the score at 4:04. Rowan Henderson made a nice pass from the left circle to Blake Clayton in the high slot. A wrist shot by Clayton beat Hriczov.

Sudbury took the lead at 6:35. Brayden Bennett made a saucer pass from the right circle to defender Liam Ladds. Ladds made a nice play to control the knee-high pass, used his glove to move the puck to the ice, and he fired a high shot over the Kitchener goaltender.

The Wolves took a two-goal lead at 14:03. Rowan Henderson made a rush around the Kitchener net, and he found Artem Gonchar in the slot. The shot by Gonchar went off the Kitchener defender, and over the shoulder of Hriczov. Blake Clayton had the secondary assist on the goal.

Sudbury took a 3-1 lead to the dressing room.

The Rangers outshot the Wolves 13-10 in the opening 20 minutes. Kitchener had nine chances to score and the Wolves had eight chances to score.

The Kitchener coaching staff likely had some inspiring words for their troops as they prepared for the middle stanza. It was a far more determined Kitchener team that took the ice, and they dominated the territorial play in the second period.

Kitchener pelted Sudbury goaltender Frasca with 18 shots, but they could only manage one goal in the period.

Dylan Edwards fired a shot from the left circle that was stopped by Frasca. He outhustled Luca Blonda for the rebound, and he swept around the Sudbury goaltender, before backhanding the puck into the net at 2:44. Jacob Xu and Carson Campbell recorded assist on the goal.

The Wolves had only seven shots on goal in the middle stanza.

The Rangers had nine chances to score and the Wolves had only four chances to score.

In the second intermission, T Puck wondered if the Wolves could hold on for the victory.

Sudbury scored a key insurance goal at 5:20. Vladimir Provorov made a nice pass to Alex Pharand in the inner left circle. Pharand made a great play, waiting to find an open the Luca Blonda in the inner right circle. The young defender had plenty of time, and a wide-open net, and he made no mistake for his first goal of the season.

Sudbury took a defensive posture in the third period, as they tried to limit quality Rangers scoring chances. They were very successful.

Kitchener put a scare into the 3,181 assembled that the Elgin Street barn, as they scored at 17:46. Christian Humphreys gained control of a bouncing puck, outbattling Luca Blonda behind the Sudbury net. He fired a quick pass to Jack Pridham in front, and Pridham beat Frasca from close range.

Kitchener pulled their goaltender with 2:04 remaining. Sudbury did a great job defending the extra attacker situation, and the kept the Rangers to the outside, while ensuring that goaltender Frasca did not face any late high danger chances.

Sudbury won their fifth game in a row, defeating the Kitchener Rangers 4-3.

The Rangers outshot the Wolves 10-2 in the third period.

The Rangers outshot the Wolves 41-19 in the contest.

Credits and critiques

The Sudbury Wolves did just enough to win on Tuesday night.

They were out chanced by a margin of 24-14 by the visitors, but they capitalized upon their chances.

The Wolves owed a debt of gratitude to Paolo Frasca, who was excellent in goal, stopping 38 of 41 shots directed at him.

The selector of the three stars of the game, RP, the evil twin of General Manager Rob Papineau, commonly known as Randy Pascal, may have been slightly over refreshed at the Postmedia New Years Party before coming to the barn to carry out his statistical duties. Rocket Man Randy (it is lonely out in space) did not believe that Frasca was worthy of even being a game star, even though many other observers that watched the game thought that Frasca was the best player on the ice.

Paolo Frasca stole two points for the Sudbury Wolves Tuesday night.

Secondary scoring stepped up for Sudbury. This was one of the few games this season that Nathan Villeneuve and Kieron Walton did not find their names on the score sheet. Three defenders scored for Sudbury.

The erstwhile star selector believed that Luca Blonda was worthy of first star honours, even though Blonda had a terrible game defensively. He finished as a -2 on the evening. It was good to see Blonda get the score sheet, but he did not play a complete game. His goal celebration was over the top.

Blake Clayton was named the third star of the game, and deservedly so. He had his usual consistent game, and he chipped in with a goal and an assist.

Clayton's usual partner on the penalty kill, Rowan Henderson, also had a solid game, contributing two assists to the attack.

Youngsters Ethan Dean and Brayden Bennett had good games.

The Wolves Scoring Chance Board Tuesday night was as follows:

Luca Blonda-three scoring chances, one goal

Artem Gonchar-one scoring chance, one goal

Blake Clayton-one scoring chance, one goal

Liam Ladds-one scoring chance, one goal

Chase Coughlan-four scoring chances

Rowan Henderson-two scoring chances

Kieron Walton-one scoring chance

Gavin Ewles-one scoring chance

Sudbury had no opportunity to enjoy much of the celebration, as they play on back-to-back nights. They travel Wednesday night to Barrie to take on the Barrie Colts.

Look for coach Scott Barney to start Bjorn Bronas in goal on Wednesday night.

T Puck would like to wish all of our readers (including our good friend, Randy Pascal) a Happy New Year, and all the best in 2026. All of you inspire T Puck to continue writing, creating, using humour and making all of you think. It is a pleasure to write for such a quality group of people.