As part of my role as team statistician for the Sudbury Wolves, my job description includes the preparation of weekly media notes, featuring various tidbits of information regarding upcoming games.

While these notes have generally been confined to circulating among media types and club officials, it seemed likely that fans of the local OHL team might also have an interest in the odds and ends that I might come across on a weekly basis.

With a Family Day encounter on the road against the Guelph Storm marking the end of a particularly gruelling two and a half week stretch of hockey and travel for the Sudbury Wolves, the team returns home to kick-off a relatively quiet two game weekend.

Mind you, a home encounter Friday versus the Owen Sound Attack followed by a road matchup the next afternoon against the suddenly red-hot Brampton Steelheads marks the final “two game week” of the regular season for the Pack, though at least the majority of those remaining encounters are at home.

The Owen Sound – Sudbury encounter marks a battle between two teams desperate for a win. Currently sitting ninth in the Western Conference and on the outside of the playoff picture, looking in, the Attack trail the Soo Greyhounds by a single point and the Sarnia Sting by just four. That said, the last place Storm are but two points behind Owen Sound.

Owen Sound will face the Barrie Colts on Thursday before heading north and do so having walked away with at least one point in seven of their last ten games. The goaltending matchup in Sudbury could be an interesting one as the Attack features World Juniors standout Carter George, who ironically features some very similar numbers to Sudbury puckstopper Nate Krawchuk.

Nate Krawchuk: 40 GPs – 1230 shots faced – .904 save % - 118 GA
Carter George: 36 GPs – 1243 shots faced - .904 save % - 119 GA

Despite winning four of the last six meetings in Sudbury between these two teams, the Wolves still need to string together a few more victories to move above the .500 mark versus the Attack at home given their all-time record of 10-12-0-0. And for as much as Sudbury has never posted a shutout in 45 games with Owen Sound, they did come close in their one and only matchup this year, a 3-1 road win in which a third period goal by Max Bleicher spoiled the Krawchuk shutout bid.

After scuffling their way through much of the 2024-2025 campaign, the highly-hyped Brampton Steelheads finally appear to be finding the form that pre-season OHL prognosticators expected. In wining six of their last seven outings, a stretch that featured a huge 4-2 triumph over the Oshawa Generals on Wednesday, Brampton has pulled to within just a point of the Niagara Ice Dogs and appear poised to overtake the 5th place divisional rival within the next two weeks or so.

This recent hot streak also included a 7-3 dismantling of the Wolves just eight days ago in Sudbury as the Steelheads jumped out to a 4-0 first period lead and looked pretty much in control of the game from start to finish. With post-season play less than a month away, coach Scott Barney would dearly love to see his team return to the type of hockey that allowed them to escape with a pair of overtime wins against Brampton back in December.