The Sudbury Wolves are a perfect 1-0 after beating the Oshawa Generals 4-2 in the Wolves’ home opener on Friday night. (Photo credit courtesy of Aaron Bell/OHL Images)

PHOTO CREDIT - Northernlife.ca

Whitby - September 22, 2012 - The Oshawa Generals travelled to Sudbury to face the Wolves on Friday night, hoping for a better result. While the effort was commendable, the Generals did not play a full 60 minutes on this evening and ended up falling to the Wolves, 4-2. There was not a lot of flow to Friday’s contest with both teams playing like most hockey pundits would expect at this time of the season. Coaches are juggling lines trying to find the best chemistry possible among their skaters and the players themselves are still learning how to play with their new teammates for the first time.

Boone Jenner continued his offensive onslaught to the 2012-13 OHL season when he opened the scoring at 6:25 of the opening frame to give the Generals their only lead of the night. Rookie Michael Dal Colle and Tyler Biggs assisted on Jenner’s third goal of the season. Sudbury Wolves’ rookie sensation, Dominik Kubalik would erase the Generals’ lead by scoring the Wolves’ first two goals.

At 9:25 of the second period, Oshawa’s Scott Sabourin would score on the powerplay, tying the game at two apiece. Linemates Scott Laughton and Matt Petgrave notched the assists. This would be as close as Oshawa would come on this evening as the team just couldn’t buy another goal. Sudbury would retake the lead only minutes later and never looked back.

Wolves’ netminder, Joel Vienneau was solid in the Sudbury net, snuffing out the Generals’ onslaught of sustained pressure late in the dying minutes of the third period. Sudbury forward Michael Kantor would later pot an empty net goal at 19:29 of the final frame, sealing the Wolves’ victory on this night.

The announced stars of the game were Sudbury Wolves’ forward, Dominik Kubalik (1st star, two goals), netminder Joel Vienneau (2nd star, 28 saves) and Oshawa Generals’ overage defenseman, Matt Petgrave (3rd star, one assist). For the complete OHL boxscore, please click onto the official game report

The Generals next play on Friday, September 28 at 7:35 p.m. when they host their Eastern Division rivals, the Peterborough Petes. The Friday night contest will be Oshawa’s home opener. The Generals record now sits at 1-1-0 after their first two road games of the season.

Altshuller big on the breakaway
Generals’ starting netminder, Daniel Altshuller made a lovely stop midway through the third period when he denied Sudbury forward Dominik Kubalik on a breakaway. At times on Friday night, Altshuller was not as consistently solid in front of the twine as he was on Thursday night against the Peterborough Petes. He allowed a rebound in the first period that contributed to Sudbury netting their first goal.

Scratch my back, I scratch yours
Oshawa’s John Urbanic and Will Petschenig did not dress for the second straight game. Adam Lloyd is still nursing a broken hand and Matt Hore was also scratched.

Thank you
In a continued effort to remain credible and accountable for every article I publish, I would like to thank reader, Kelly Graham for correctly identifying my oversight that Oshawa Generals’ forward, Tyler Biggs did receive 17 minutes in penalties for his fight with Peterborough’s Clark Seymour on Thursday night. However, Biggs was not ejected for being the investigator and in fact, did return to the game in the third period.

A shout out to Sudbury Star’s own, Ben Leeson for live-streaming Friday’s contest via the internet. There was no television coverage, so thank you Ben for keeping me and other Generals fans well informed.

For the love of the game, I remain, Dean Eastman.