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.

Sure, we haven’t yet hit the one-third mark of the OHL season but a very nice start to the 2026-2027 campaign for the Sudbury Wolves did give us cause to at least take a glance at the all-time best single season records for the OHL team.

With a record of 13-5-1-0 after 19 games, the Wolves find themselves on pace for roughly 96 points, an output that still would leave them a little shy of the 1975-1976 squad and their 102 points recorded (47-11-8). But with that one out of the way, the current edition of the local juniors are chasing down the only two other groups to have hit the 90 point mark in the 54 year history of the franchise.

With co-coaches Glenn Merkosky and Todd Lalonde at the helm, the 1994-1995 Sudbury Wolves finished the season with 92 points thanks to a mark of 43-17-6. After eliminating the Kitchener Rangers in five games in round one and the Windsor Spitfires in six in round two, the Wolves went the full seven games against the eventual champion Detroit Jr Red Wings in the conference final before bowing out.

With a record of 43-20-3-2, the 2018-2019 Wolves also cracked that top three echelon, though post-season play was far less attractive. A four game sweep of the Mississauga Steelheads gave way to complete 180 as the Ottawa 67’s sent the Wolves packing in just four games.

Exactly sixty games into their francise series with the Sarnia Sting (who are in town on Friday night) and the Sudbury Wolves find themselves looking at a virtual mirror image when it comes to home and away records to date. The Wolves have lost but seven times at home but also have just seven wins to date to show for the treks to the home of the Sting (they make the return trip to southwestern Ontario on January 31st 2027).

A 3-1 home victory last December snapped a three game losing skid for the Sudbury side (vs Sarnia), though it should be noted that the Wolves have come out on top at the old barn on Elgin Street in five of the last six matchups between these teams.

It certainly has been a tougher go when facing the Sting on the road. After getting the “W” in their first tete a tete at the very southern tip of Lake Huron, the Wolves proceeded to lose nine straight. That skid was snapped on March 6th (2005) when a back and forth affair was settled once and for all by Benoit Pouliot, who buried his 29th of the season for the only goal of the third period in a 4-3 Sudbury win.

On Sunday afternoon, coach Scott Barney and the boys will make their third trip of the young season to North Bay, with the teams having split a pair of 4-3 encounters in the Gateway City. Their one and only meeting to date in Sudbury resulted in a 5-3 win for the visitors as the Battalion have now climbed into a second place tie in the Central Division with the Niagara Ice Dogs, both at 17 points.

That leaves both divisional rivals still ten points back of the howling front-runners, who would dearly love to earn a split as the teams will not face each other again until February 5th.