The First OHL Game

Friday night was the first time I have ever set foot inside an arena to watch an OHL game. No, I didn't arrive early enough to get a denim hat as there had to be about 4000 people already at the arena at 6pm when I arrived, but I was treated to a heck of a hockey game between the visiting Guelph Storm and the Sudbury Wolves! Both sides have a few NHL prospects that they can boast, but none of them seem to be on a fast-track to The Show, so I was hoping we might see some dangles from the guys who are trying to work their way up depth charts and from guys who want to be on depth charts. Let's find out what I saw!

The first thing I noticed during warmups was Guelph backup netminder Colin Ellsworth thanks to the number he was wearing. As seen to the right, Ellsworth wears #55 for the Storm which, from my research, has been worn by two NHL goalies: Ken Appleby with Devils in 2018 and Felix Potvin with the Islanders in 1999. With Ellsworth being a rookie, he still has lots of time to impress an NHL team if he's hoping to be drafted, but he could be the third goalie to wear #55 in the NHL if he continues to wear that non-goalie number by traditional hockey standards. Kind of cool, right? And just as a note, please excuse the photo as my iPhone kept focusing on the netting, not Ellsworth. Sometimes, technology works against me.

As the game got underway, it was clear that the Wolves were the more aggressive team as they peppered Guelph's Brayden Gillespie with shots. That would pay off midway through the period when Winnipeg Jets prospect Kieron Walton picked the pocket of a defender, skated in on a partial breakaway, and dented twine!
Walton looked dangerous on this night, and it wouldn't be the last time his name is announced over the public address system. For those wondering, the Jets drafted Walton 187th-overall in the sixth round of the 2024 NHL Entry Draft, but he looked like he should have gone much higher with his play tonight. Again, it's just one game, but colour me impressed with how he played.

We'd get a second Wolves at the 15:47 mark when undrafted Luca Blonda used some speed down the wing before throwing a quick, high shot at the net that got inside the far post to make it a 2-0 game. And just to cap off an entertaining first period, I was treated to the new OHL rule where players who fight are given the rest of the game off as Washington Capitals prospect Cam Allen dropped the mitts with Seattle Kraken prospect Nathan Villeneuve, and Villeneuve had the home crowd on its feet as he landed a big punch that wobbled Allen before the linesmen jumped into the fray. Needless to say, it was a happy crowd through one period as Sudbury led 2-0.

It was a bit of a different period in the middle frame as Guelph turned up the intensity, but Wolves netminder Nate Krawchuk stood his ground. It would take a power-play later in the frame for the Storm to finally solve Krawchuk as 6'6" Vancouver Canucks prospect Vilmer Alriksson finished off a gorgeous goalmouth pass from Philadelphia Flyers prospect Jett Luchanko at 14:12 to cut the deficit to one. That lead would evaporate three minutes later when Quinn Beauchesne threw a puck at the net that somehow found a seam through Krawchuk to get into the net, and we'd have a 2-2 game at 17:43. However, the Wolves marched back down the ice where Alex Pharand chipped a rebound off Ethan Dean's shot past Gillespie at 18:45, and the Wolves carried the 3-2 lead into the third period!

The Wolves continued to pressure the Storm in the third period as they looked for more, and it was clear that time was becoming the enemy of the Storm. About seven minutes into the frame, though, there was a prolonged stoppage as Brayden Gillespie needed his helmet fixed or adjusted which drew the ire of the referee who, after a couple of minutes, told the Guelph bench to either swap goalies or give Gillespie a mask so he could continue. Ellsworth handed Gillespie his mask so Gillespie could return to the crease, but one had to wonder if it would affect Gillespie since the cage was different and Ellsworth's mask wasn't adjusted for Gillespie's head.

From my vantage point, the Wolves got a few shots away on a rush where it looked like Gillespie was fighting to see the puck clearly, possibly due to the different cage configuration. A couple of minutes after the mask swap, Gillespie had it resting on top of his head once more as he fished the puck out of the net for a fourth time.
Kieron Walton hammers home the one-timer off the feed from Kocha Delic at 9:48 for his second goal of the game, and the Wolves went ahead by a 4-2 score. While there was still ten minutes to play and Guelph has scored two goals in 3:31 earlier, would this lead hold up?

The answer was a resounding "yes" as Guelph opted to pull Gillespie while on the power-play with five minutes to play, and it would be Quentin Musty who found the back of the vacant Storm net with a shot at 17:03 to make it 5-2. Just for good measure, Alex Pharand scored his second goal of the game as he one-timed a great centering pass from Wilton who was behind the net, and that goal with 28 seconds to play put the icing on a 6-2 victory for the Sudbury Wolves!

Take nothing away from the crowd of 4258 who showed up to cheer on the Wolves and sounded more like 8000 fans when the Wolves added to their total on the scoreboard. They were loud, they were raucous, and they made sure the Wolves knew they appreciated the effort. With a large number of fans in their denim hats and their Wolves jerseys, it was hard not to be impressed with the turnout on Friday night. Sudbury gets a solid thumbs-up!

For me, it was a fun time at my first OHL game. I would like to suggest that the Wolves introduce their fans to honey dill sauce for the chicken fingers they serve because the plum sauce they gave me just isn't the same. I know honey dill sauce is a Manitoba thing, but it could be a distinctly Sudbury thing if fans took to it. Of course, they may not embrace it like Manitobans have, but I'm just making a suggestion that likely will never come to light.

If you happen to get to a game, the Sudbury Community Arena looks and feels old from the outside, but there's some charm and history in those four walls as you start walking around the concourse. For example, there's a picture of Queen Elizabeth II on one wall like the Winnipeg Jets once had. There's a stuffed wolf that is sent out over the north part of the ice via a suspended wire when the Wolves score, and I found it more creepy than charming. There weren't any food or beverage selections that made one want to come back to the rink, but the food and drink served was certainly good enough for a hockey game. The banners hung from the ceiling show history from 1932 through to today, but there are only a handful of them.

None of the above paragraph took anything away from the action on the ice or the result, though, and the total for the night cost me less than $50 for my ticket, parking, and dinner. Frankly, that's a heckuva deal, and I hope people realize that junior hockey is still entirely affordable compared to other leagues. If you were to ask me if I'd go again, my answer would be a definite yes.

I didn't get a hat, but a win on a Friday night while watching a player who could be a future Winnipeg Jets forward have himself a night on the ice wasn't a bad way to close out the work week. I'll be working again today before hitting the road to my next destination, but my lone night in Sudbury was definitely worth it!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!