Culina to Sudbury Wolves


By
November 20, 2017

Sudbury Wolves have obtained overage goalie Mario Culina off Ontario Hockey League waivers, multiple sources have confirmed to HockeyNewsNorth.com.

The 6-foot-2, 185 pound Culina is on his way to Sudbury today from Toronto, where he had been playing for the Ryerson Rams of Ontario University Athletics.

A Sault Ste. Marie native, Culina spent the past two OHL seasons with the reigning Memorial Cup champion Windsor Spitfires as a valued backup to star goalie Michael DiPietro.

Over two OHL seasons as the understudy to DiPietro in Windsor, Culina produced an overall record of 23-13-2 with a 2.79 goals against average and .901 save percentage.

Culina joined the Spitfires in 2015-2016 as a free agent from the Soo Thunderbirds of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League. Culina was part of NOJHL and Dudley Hewitt Cup championship teams while with the Thunderbirds.

The addition of Culina gives Sudbury four overage players on its roster, including injured defenseman Kyle Rhodes.

The Wolves have been struggling at the goal-tending position with holdover starter Jake McGrath and rookie Marshall Frappier. Both have save percentages below the .890 mark on a Wolves team that has a record of 7-14-4 through 25 games thus far this season.

Culina joins two former Thunderbirds and Sault Ste. Marie products with the Wolves, namely 1998 birth year, twin brother forwards Darian Pilon and Drake Pilon.

The Wolves are on the road to play the Soo Greyhounds on Wednesday.


What you think about “Culina to Sudbury Wolves”

  1. Wondered why the Wolves wouldn’t go after him. What took them so long ?
    Hopefully he can help them get some wins.

  2. What took so long? How wasn’t he picked up months ago. He’s good.
    Real good. Best goalie the Sault has produced in a long time. He might be the best goalie out of the soo in 20 years. Tons of talent and a good head on his shoulders. I’m sure he will pick up enough points on his own to get the wolves into the playoffs. Any clue what they gave up to get him?

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