Plymouth Whalers Stuff Sudbury Wolves, 5-3

Photo by Pete Krupsky - Former Wolves player Mathew Campagna meets Sudbury fans after Plymouth’s 5-3 win over the Wolves.

SUDBURY – In a game the Plymouth Whalers needed to win, their veteran players stepped up.

Led by overages Gianluca Curcuruto and Mathew Campagna, the Whalers beat the Sudbury Wolves, 5-3, before an announced and quiet crowd of 3,097 at the Sudbury Community Arena.

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ADDITIONAL STORY - Bruce Heidman, Sudbury Star

Plymouth improves to 17-27-2-2, good for 38 points and nine points behind idle Saginaw (22-23-2-1, 47 points). The Whalers and Spirit have both played 48 games.

As cold at it is in Northern Ontario (approaching -10F on Wednesday night and Thursday morning) the Wolves are colder. Sudbury lost its 18th game in a row and is 7-39-1-1. The Wolves last win came on Dec. 13 in a 3-1 victory over Kingston.

Curcuruto was named the game’s first star, drawing the primary assist on Josh Wesley’s goal (5th) that snapped a 2-2 tie at 15:52 of the second period. He then scored the eventual game-winning goal (his fourth of the year) on a power play at 18:37 of the second period to give Plymouth a 4-2 lead.

Campagna was named the game’s second star in scoring a goal (17th) and recording three assists.

And typical of his friendly nature, he met a sizeable group of fans and friends after the game who remember him fondly after playing four years in Sudbury.

Sonny Milano (14th) and Nicholas Caamano (3rd) also scored for Plymouth.

Kyle Capobianco (7th), Matt Schmalz (19th) and Chad Heffernan (8th) scored for Sudbury with Heffernan’s goal coming in the final minute of the third period with the issue decided.

As well as Curcuruto and Campagna played, Plymouth youngster Nicholas Caamano had his moments as well. Caamano’s heavy-but-legal check on Sudbury defenseman Jeff Corbett set the play in motion for Campagna’s goal and the first of the game at 14:06 of the opening period. Caamano hammered Corbett in the left corner in the Sudbury zone and the Wolves and their fans let up, expecting a penalty. But referees Steve Picco and Matt Traub saw the play differently. Connor Sills found the loose puck on the left wing in the Sudbury zone and passed to Campagna, who scored from the right hashmark.

Corbett missed the rest of the game.

Capobianco – who leads Sudbury in ice time and may well lead the league in the same category - scored on the power play from the high slot at 16:06 to tie the game.

Plymouth started to assert itself offensively in the second period, outshooting Sudbury, 15-7 in the fame. Milano scored from a familiar spot – the left circle on a Whalers power play to give the Whalers a 2-1 lead. Schmalz re-tied the game at 2-2 at 15:25, finding a loose puck on the left side of the Plymouth goal and scoring on a backhand.

Good things happen when teams win a faceoff, and that fact led to Wesley’s goal to give Plymouth a 3-2 lead at 15:52. Campagna won a draw in the Sudbury zone and Curcuruto (at the right point) found Wesley at the high slot. Sudbury goaltender Troy Timpano appeared to be screened and didn’t move until the puck hit the back of the net.

Campagna and Milano joined forces to find Curcuruto in the high slot for the Whalers fourth goal, coming on a power play at 18:37 of the second period. Cullen Mercer had an effective screen in front of Timpano and Plymouth led, 4-2, after forty minutes.

Caamano opened the scoring at 9:16 of the third period to extend the Whalers lead to 5-2. Connor Chatham set the play up, skating wide right-wing to the goal-line and fed the puck just outside the blue ice to Caamano, who worked through a Wolves defender and scored on a redirect past Timpano just outside the blue ice.

The lone blemish for Campagna in the game was a slew-foot assessed at 16:04 of the third period. He may be subject to a review by the Ontario Hockey League.

In the meantime, Plymouth remains on the road Thursday in North Bay (7 pm, 88.1FM WSDP) before returning home Saturday to host Owen Sound at 7:05 pm at Compuware Arena (7 pm, CN-900, 88.1FM WSDP).