Tough end to road trip for Greyhounds

A three-game road trip came to an end for the Soo Greyhounds on Sunday afternoon and despite the end result, the team feels like a better result was deserved.

The Greyhounds dropped a 5-4 decision to the Kitchener Rangers at the Memorial Auditorium Sunday but the result may not necessarily fit the game.

“For two periods we were the better team,” Greyhounds Coach Drew Bannister said. “It’s one of those games where you walk away and should have come out with two points.”

Bannister called issue with the Rangers opening goal in the first period by Jacob Cascagnette.

“That goal probably shouldn’t have counted, it was definitely kicked in the net,” Bannister said. “There’s no question. I didn’t even have to watch it on the replay to see that it was kicked in the net.”

“In the end, that’s the difference in the game,” Bannister added.

Brandon Halverson stopped 33 shots.

“I loved our push-back,” Bannister said. “In the second period there were times where we were really good. We’re having a hard time getting rewarded.

“When things aren’t going well, it’s tough to dig yourself out of it,” Bannister added. “Things seem to go against you more than good things go for you.”

Colton White had a goal and an assist while Keigan Goetz, Blake Speers and Bobby MacIntyre also scored.

Despite the win, the Rangers were not pleased with certain points in the game.

“It’s getting a little old having negative meetings after wins,” Rangers Coach Mike Van Ryn told Rogers TV after the game. “We have to learn to play every period hard. We had a good first then we had a bad second and that’s kind of been the story for us lately. It’s only going to get tougher as teams get better as the year goes on.”

“It’s not fun winning right now and that’s a problem,” Van Ryn added.

Van Ryn noted that the issues stem from getting away from doing things the “right way.”

“We got away from our game and it starts with some of our leaders having long shifts in the second,” Van Ryn said. “We talk about it all the time about doing things the right way and we’ve gotten away from that lately. That’s something that we’ve got to get back.”

Adam Mascherin had a goal and two assists while Ryan MacInnis added a goal and an assist for the Rangers.

Darby Llewellyn and David Miller also scored for Kitchener while Rangers goaltender Luke Opilka stopped 18 shots.

The Rangers improve to 20-3-3 with the victory while the Greyhounds record falls to 9-14-3-0.

The Greyhounds return home to begin a three-game homestand on Wednesday night against the Sudbury Wolves before playing a pair of weekend games against the Oshawa Generals on Saturday and North Bay Battalion on Sunday afternoon.

Game Notes: Sophomore forward Tim Gettinger missed the game with an upper-body injury suffered on Thursday night in St. Catharines against the Niagara IceDogs.

Bannister said Gettinger will rejoin the team on Monday but isn’t expected to play on Wednesday against Sudbury and that the weekend games would be the earliest the second-year forward would get back into the lineup.

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OTHER SCORES

In Kingston, Spencer Watson had a goal and two assists as the Kingston Frontenacs beat the Sarnia Sting 4-1. Jason Robertson added a goal and an assist while Roland McKeown and Lawson Crouse also scored. Zachary Core had the lone goal for the Sting.

In North Bay, Mathew Santos had two goals and three assists as the North Bay Battalion beat the Flint Firebirds 6-3. Mike Amadio added two goals and an assist while Miles Liberati assisted on three goals for North Bay. Brett McKenzie and Max Kislinger also scored. Francesco Vilardi scored twice while Will Bitten also scored for Flint.

In Oshawa, Owen Tippett’s shootout goal lifted the Mississauga Steelheads to a 3-2 win over the Oshawa Generals. Steelheads goaltender Jack Flinn made 37 saves in and stopped all three Generals shooters in the shootout. Tippett and Jason Smith scored for Mississauga in regulation time. Domenic Commisso scored both Generals goals.

In Windsor, Christian Dvorak had two goals and two assists as the London Knights beat the Windsor Spitfires 5-3. Matthew Tkachuk added a goal and two assists while Mitchell Marner assisted on three London goals. Kole Sherwood and J.J. Piccinich also scored for the Knights. Mikhail Sergachev scored twice while Patrick Sanvido had a goal and an assist for the Spitfires.

(Photo courtesy Soo Greyhounds)