ROSEMONT, Ill.—The Chicago Wolves opened their historic 30th season by falling to the Milwaukee Admirals 2-1 in overtime on Saturday night at Allstate Arena.
Nathan Sucese scored and Adam Scheel was sensational in goal to help the Wolves earn a point but the Admirals prevailed when Spencer Stastney scored the game-winner early in overtime.
“We had some spurts when we were hounding pucks in the O-zone and kind of getting into our game and obviously some spurts when we were spending a little too much time in the D-zone,” Sucese said. “Scheel stood on his head—you have to tip your cap to him.”
After a scoreless opening period, the Wolves struck first when Sucese found the back of the net late in the second. The forward pounced on a loose puck and buried a shot from the right circle past Milwaukee goaltender Yaroslav Askarov. Matt Donovan and Alex Green earned assists on the Wolves’ first score of the 2023-24 season.
“It was a little off-the-heel play by Green jumping into the play and that starts the O-Zone because that gets their five guys to backcheck to the house and then I came down the lane for a rebound,” Sucese said.
A short time later, the Admirals knotted the score at 1-1 on Denis Gurianov’s goal.
Neither team could score in the third so the game went into overtime when Stastney broke in alone on Scheel and ended the contest.
Scheel (35 saves) suffered the loss for the Wolves while Askarov (20 saves) earned the victory for Milwaukee.
“You have to see where your team is at to start,” Sucese said. “We only really played one preseason game with a full lineup. Now, we know what areas to work on.”
Next up: The Wolves host the Texas Stars on Wednesday (11 a.m.) at Allstate Arena.
For information on Wolves ticket plans for the 2023-24 season—everything from single-game tickets to Flex Packs to group outings—visit chicagowolves.com or call 1-800-THE-WOLVES.
