Sabres draft pick stymies IceDogs
Ultra-hot Sudbury goaltender gives Niagara shooters cold shoulder with 46-save game
The Niagara IceDogs ran into a 6-feet-5 brick wall Thursday night.
His name: Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen.
The Finnish-born goaltender, and Buffalo Sabres 2017 secondround draft pick, made 46 stops, including a number of 10-bell saves down the stretch, as the Sudbury Wolves edged the Niagara IceDogs 3-2 in front of 4,254 fans at Meridian Centre in St. Catharines.
“Their goaltender played outstanding,” said IceDogs head coach Billy Burke. “Obviously being close to Buffalo he wanted to impress them and I’m sure he did.”
Niagara outshot Sudbury 48-21 overall and opened the scoring 6:28 into the first period as Swissborn Kyen Sopa deflected home his second goal of the season.
In fact, the first three goals of the game came via deflections as the Wolves took a 2-1 lead into the first intermission.
“The first one was a weird bounce, the second one a great tip, but I didn’t like our battle level in front of the net on the first two,” Burke said.
“It’s tough. When you outshoot a team almost three to one at times it’s hard to say the guys didn’t work. The guys came on in waves, and we were pouring it on, but their goaltending was outstanding.”
Despite Burke’s disappointment with the final result, he was pleased with the play of Sopa.
The 5-foot-9, 182-pound winger, whom the IceDogs drafted in this
year’s import draft, plays bigger than his size, is terrific in traffic, and wins most puck battles he’s engaged in.
“He’s a gritty guy, and is not afraid to go anywhere,” explained Burke. “It was nice to see him go to the net and get a tip.”
Sopa was very to the point after the contest.
“We didn’t bury our chances, that’s all,” said Sopa who just turned 18 last Sunday.
“We had 50 shots and dominated.”
Sopa, who played for Switzerland at the 2018-19 World Junior Hockey Championships in Buffalo, enjoys the physical aspect of the game.
“You have to do it, it’s part of hockey,” he said.
“It’s so important to win battles in the corners. I get more engaged in games when they’re physical.
“I just want to play for the team, and win.”
Kirill Maksimov finished off a pretty passing play from Ben Jones 5:35 into the second period to tie the game at two, but that’s all Niagara could muster past Luukkonen.
Peter Stratis’s goal with 4:33 left in the third period proved to be the game-winner.
The IceDogs will now regroup and watch video before visiting Mississauga Friday night.
“It’s too bad. We certainly had opportunities, had legs, had energy, and I thought we were going to get a better fate than that,” Burke said.
’Dog Biscuits: Liam Ham (lower body) Drew Hunter (lower body) and Jake Uberti (healthy) were not in the lineup for Niagara ...
IceDogs defenceman Elijah Roberts left this game with a lower-body injury and is listed as day-to-day but will not play Friday in Mississauga ... The Wolves managed exactly seven shots on goal each period.