With wins over the Guelph Storm (Friday) and Niagara Ice Dogs (Saturday), it would have been easy for the Sudbury Wolves to enter their battle with the Oshawa Generals Sunday evening with a mindset that the weekend goal had already been met.

First period penalty trouble and a great start from an opponent who sits second in the Eastern Conference standings would only give more reason to call it a night early – but that’s not the way new head coach Scott Barney has this team wired right now.

Trailing 3-1 after twenty minutes of play and outshot 19-8, the Wolves bounced back to pepper a very good Oshawa team with 34 shots over the final two periods, only to have goaltender Jacob Oster earn first star honours for the Generals in a 4-2 win that included a late empty-net goal.

It is becoming increasingly evident that there is a definite calmness to the demeanour of the man behind the bench that appears to be carrying over nicely to the teens under his watch.

“My biggest thing is just making sure that we are staying positive with them,” said Barney in a post-game chat. “It’s a young group and sometimes things can go the wrong way quickly – but we stayed with the game plan. We have great leaders in our room, both older guys and younger guys.”

“It just showed the character of the group and how much they are playing for each other.”

Colby Barlow opened the scoring for Oshawa on the man advantage, joined on the scoresheet in the first by teammates Luca Marrelli and Owen Griffin (Quentin Musty squeezed a counter-strike between those two tallies). A late empty-netter from Luca D’Amato sealed the deal after Kieron Walton’s 13th of the year made it a one goal game.

“It’s a mental battle with both teams playing three in three,” said Barney. “We got ourselves into penalty trouble early on. Maybe without that, it’s a different outcome – and their goalie kept them in the game, for sure.”

If there is such a thing as a “good loss”, this may have been it for the Sudbury side.

While some might suggest otherwise, I don’t believe that it’s naively optimistic to view a game that goes right down to the wire, on the road, against a team gearing up for a long playoff run, as another encouraging sign for a Wolves’ team that still featured plenty of question marks as training camp broke back in September.

Still, you have to know that coach Barney and company will continue to raise the bar.

“We want to win every game – that’s our goal,” stressed the native of Oshawa. “I think we can go up against any team. You want to play the top teams – Oshawa, Windsor, London – they’re a great measuring stick for us.”

There is no doubt that coach Barney favours a degree of physicality in his lineup, one that can easily carry over to some extra visits to the sin bin. But on an evening where the Wolves were awarded six power plays to just four for the Generals, there was more good than bad to this component of the game in his mind.

“We have guys that can play a physical game and guys who maybe were not as physical in the past but are learning that it does give them a little more room, more time with the puck,” said Barney. “We have to play the same way, whether we’re in our rink or opposing rinks.”

Despite the setback, the local juniors still exit the weekend in fifth place in the conference with a record of 12-8-3-0. For as much as breathing room in the battle for the final pour playoff spots has been extremely limited, the Wolves do find themselves five points up on both the Ottawa 67’s and North Bay Battalion, with the Peterborough Petes looking like a lock for the basement.

“We are trying to play playoff style hockey, every single night, so that we’re ready when we do get to the playoffs,” said Barney.

A six-point weekend would have made that end goal just a little more achievable, though it’s hard to be too discouraged with yet another solid three game run.

All of which sets the stage for another great test this week as the Wolves have only two games on the schedule – but both against the Barrie Colts (Thursday in Barrie; Friday in Sudbury), a team which has emerged victorious in all four previous battles this year (twice by a single goal and once by two goals).