The Niagara IceDogs lost a hard-fought battle against the visiting Sudbury Wolves infront of 2,943 fans at the Gatorade Garden City Complex Thursday night.

Sudbury opened the scoring at early as Steve Reese notched a shorthanded goal at the 5:22 mark of the first.

The IceDogs came back late in the period when Dylan MacEachern scored his 3rd goal of the season with Josh Moes getting the helper.  

Alex Friesen almost gave Niagara the lead with a few chances in front of the Wolves net in the closing seconds of the first period, but somehow the puck stayed out of the net and the score was tied at 1-1 after 20 minutes.

The IceDogs had a physical start to the second as Alex Friesen shook things up with a big hit behind the Sudbury net, prompting Wolves forward Eric O’Dell initiate a fight. O’Dell received a two minute instigator penalty and a 10 minute misconduct, and Friesen got the initial hitting from behind call. Both players also received 5 minutes for fighting.

The two teams exchanged various power play opportunities throughout the period, but the score remained at a 1-1 tie going into the second intermission.

The game had a scoring drought for 32 minutes until Matias Sointu scored his 5th of the season at the 12:41 mark of third to give Sudbury a 2-1 lead.

The IceDogs were awarded a 5-on-3 power play late in the period and produced many quality scoring chances, but Wolves goaltender Andrew Loverock was superb between the pipes.

Niagara pulled goalie Mark Visentin during the last minute of play to try and tie the game, but Sudbury slipped one into the empty net, giving the game a final score of 3-1 in favour of the Wolves.

The IceDogs will make a trip to Mississauga to face the Majors Sunday afternoon at 2:00 p.m. before taking a few days off for Christmas. The Dogs next home game will be on New Years Eve as they play host to the Erie Otters at a special 6:00 p.m. puck drop. Tickets for the New Years Eve game and all other IceDogs home games can be purchased at any IceDogs ticketing location.

For more home-game photos, please visit www.rickdenham.com


-    Jeff Blay, Media Relations


Scoreboard:
1. SBY Reese, (10) (McFadden, Trecapelli), 5:22 (SH)    
1. NIAG MacEachern, (3) (Moes), 15:34     
3. SBY Sointu, (5) (Reese), 12:41     
3. SBY O'Dell, (15) (Staal), 19:16 (EN)

Three Stars:
1. SBY - 14 Steve Reese
2. NIAG - 19 Josh Moes
3. SBY - 30 Andrew Loverock

Honourable Mention: Mark Visentin - 21 Saves.