Tied at three through forty minutes of play, the Friday night encounter in the Nickel City between the Sudbury Wolves and North Bay Battalion was still very much up for grabs.
On this night at least, it was the more experienced visitors from North Bay who would step up and grab it.
A defensive breakdown a few minutes before the halfway mark of the final frame allowed Arseny Pronin to jam home his sixth of the year on a rebound, giving the visitors a 4-3 lead.
But it wasn’t until the head and shoulder best player on the ice in the matchup, Battalion captain Ethan Procyszyn, sniped his second of the game with his time shorthanded and 5:01 showing on the game clock that this encounter felt out of reach.
Nick Wellenreiter assured that outcome with an empty-net goal three minutes later spoiling a very solid outing, for the Wolves, through two thirds of the game. Truth be told, head coach Scott Barney went so far as to label this effort one of the best first two periods of hockey the Wolves have played since his arrival in northern Ontario some 18 months ago.
Unlike the lethargic Wednesday night mid-week tilt with the Soo Greyhounds 48 hours earlier, the Wolves – Battalion battle featured plenty of back and forth in an up-tempo contest in which Nick Wellenreiter netted the only goal of period one.
Sudbury stormed back early in the second, capitalizing on both ends of a five on three with Adam Nemec and Hudson Chitaroni both finding the back of the net on the PP. For Chitaroni, an 18 year-old third round Sudbury pick in 2023, the encounter marked his first game action since November 19th (2025), appearing in only his 15th game of the season.
Beyond just striking for his fifth goal of the season, the native of Sault Ste Marie and son of former Wolves forward Terry Chitaroni showcased some of the offensive skill the team can definitely use for the remainder of this year and beyond.
Sebastien Gervais knotted the contest at 2-2, taking a pretty feed from Proscyszyn, before Chase Coughlan (Wolves) and Proscyszyn closed out the frame, trading off tallies. Overall, it would be difficult to lament the effort of the Wolves who directed 43 shots at goaltender Jack Lisson.
Making his fourth straight start between the pipes for the local juniors, Bjorn Bronas did not enjoy his best outing of the year (22 saves on 27 shots), nor was he the reason the team lost.
Where the final ten games of the regular season might pit the Wolves against some opponents playing out the string as they ready for the playoffs, North Bay arrived a hungry troop, still hoping to overtake the fourth place Peterborough Petes and secure home ice advantage for the first round of the playoffs.
(North Bay trails Peterborough by just one point, at the moment)
As for the Wolves, the blow of their setback was softened somewhat by an 8-2 drubbing the Kitchener Rangers delivered on the Brampton Steelheads, leaving the latter still nine points behind the eighth place Sudbury squad with time quickly running out.
Coach Barney and company are back in action at home on Sunday afternoon as the Kingston Frontenacs make the trek north. After falling 4-3 to North Bay on Thursday, the Fronts took down the Soo Greyhounds on Friday, also by a final score of 6-3.
