The View from Section 2, January 10, 2026

Wolves Lose to Ice Dogs

By T Puck

The Sudbury Wolves returned to mice Friday night to face the Niagara Ice Dogs at the Elgin Street barn.

An announced crowd of 2,856 attended the contest.

The game was an anticlimax to the pregame activity.

Moments before the Friday 12 noon OHL Trade Deadline, the Wolves made another major transaction.

Kieron Walton was shipped to the Peterborough Petes along with a seventh-round pick belonging to the Flint Firebirds in the 2026 draft (the upcoming draft) in return for defenceman Genc Ula and five draft picks. The draft picks acquired by the Wolves were a second-round pick owned by the Petes in 2029, a third-round pick owned by the Brampton Steelheads in 2026 (the upcoming draft), a third-round pick belonging to the Brantford Bulldogs in 2027, a third-round pick belonging to the Oshawa Generals in 2029, and a fifth-round pick belonging to the Petes in 2027.

The player involved in the transaction is the older brother of Patrick Ula, the 2009 late birthdate 16-year-old, who has played four games with the Wolves this season. The elder Ula is a 2008 late birthdate, left shooting defenceman. He is a strapping 6'1" 205 pound rearguard. Ula plays a very physical style of game. Last season, as a Rookie with the Petes, one of his hard hits sent Quentin (Mr. Glass) Musty to the sidelines with a shoulder injury. The injury completely aborted Musty's season, and it greatly affected his playoff performance. In 38 games with the Petes, Ula had two goals and five assists with 55 penalty minutes.

He will add a physical dimension to a Wolves defence that has been as soft as a bag of marshmallows this season.

From the Wolves perspective, this is an underwhelming return for Walton. On the two dollar scale, score this trade as $1.45 for the Petes and $0.55 for the Wolves.

The starting goaltenders in this contest were Vladislav Yermolenko for Niagara and Paolo Frasca for Sudbury.

The Wolves also made another more minor move on deadline day with the Kingston Frontenacs, obtaining a 2027 fourth round pick owned by the Oshawa Generals in exchange for a 2028 fifth-round pick previously acquired from the Windsor Spitfires.

Niagara scored the only goal of the opening 20 minutes at 17:03. A long shot by Hayden Reed from just inside the middle of the blue line beat Frasca, who was being screened by Ethan Czata and the Wolves Artem Gonchar. This was scored as an unassisted goal.

Sudbury outshot Niagara 10-6 in the opening 20 minutes. The Wolves had seven chances to score and the Ice Dogs had one chance to score and one-non-scoring chance goal.

Action picked up during the second period.

The Wolves evened the score at 2:38 on the power play. JC Lemieux moved the park to Jan Chovan in the Niagara right circle. A hard wrist shot beat Yermolenko. Adam Nenec recorded the secondary assist on the goal.

Sudbury took the lead at 4:56. Jan Chovan made a pass from behind the Niagara net to Hudson Martin who was unguarded in the high slot. A hard wrist shot beat Yermolenko. Adam Nemec had the secondary assist on the goal.

Niagara deadlocked the contest at 16:16. Ivan Galiyanov won a face-off to the left of Frasca. The puck went to Ben Rwisnecker at the left point, who moved the park to Haoxi Wang. He moved to the top of the left circle, before firing a wrist shot that beat Frasca load to the glove side.

Niagara outshot the Wolves 10-9 in the middle stanza. Niagara had seven chances to score and the Wolves had five chances to score.

Niagara took the lead just 37 seconds into the third period. A long shot by Riley Patterson was tipped home by Ryerson Edgar.Haoxi Wang had the secondary assist on the goal.

Sudbury had a number of good opportunities to draw even in the contest, but Yermolenko was steady in the Niagara goal.

Chase Coughlan of the Wolves was whistled for a questionable hooking penalty at 17:42. This put a major cramp in the Sudbury strategy to remove Frasca for an extra attacker

.

Frasca was finally removed for an extra attacker with only 38 seconds remaining in the game.

The strategy backfired, as Niagara moved the puck up the ice, with the puck ending up on the stick of the dangerous Ryan Roobroeck. Roobroeck had no difficulty putting the puck into the empty net at 19:32, putting the finishing touches on a 4-2 victory for the Niagara Ice Dogs.

The Wolves outshot the Ice Dogs 14-5 in the final stanza. Sudbury had nine chances to score and the Ice Dogs were opportunistic in converting two of three scoring chances.

Sudbury outshot Niagara 33-20 in the contest.

Credits and critiques

Despite losing the game, there were some very positive aspects of the performance put in by the Sudbury Wolves on Friday night.

The Wolves defensive core played their most physical game of the season, led by newcomer Genc Ula. It was refreshing to see this from the defensive core.

Hudson Martin scored the first goal of his OH L career on Friday night. He has quietly had a very effective season with the Wolves.

Jan Chovan had a good game, recording a goal and an assist.

The other two recent newcomers, Adam Nemec and JC Lemieux both contributed on the score sheet, with two assists and one assist, respectively.

The reality of this contest was that it was a winnable game for the Sudbury Wolves.

The Wolves lost this game because 40% of their scoring offense left town just before the OHL Trade Deadline. Although JC Lemieux and Adam Nemec may take up some of the slack, there is a considerable scoring void on the roster.

T Puck was encouraged by the work ethic and determination shown by the Wolves squad, but in the end, this team lacks people that can finish scoring opportunities.

The Wolves had 21 scoring opportunities, but could only cash in on two opportunities. This is not a recipe that will result in winning a large number of hockey games.

The Wolves Scoring Chance Board Friday night was as follows:

Jan Chovan-three scoring chances, one goal

Hudson Martin-one scoring chance, one goal

Chase Coughlan-three scoring chances

Carter Kostuch-three scoring chances

Genc Ula-one scoring chance

JC Lemieux-two scoring chance

Rowan Henderson-two scoring chances

Braden Bennett-one scoring chance

Adam Nemec-two scoring chances

Ethan Dean-two scoring chances

Daniel Berehowsky-one scoring chance

The Wolves returned to action Sunday afternoon at 2 PM as they host the on Ottawa 67's.

T Puck has no idea whom coach Scott Barney will starting goal on Sunday afternoon.