Greyhounds drop decision to Bulls (Updated)

In a rare Thursday night game at the Essar Centre, the Soo Greyhounds three-game homestand continued against the Belleville Bulls.

Just 24 hours after a 3-1 win over the Sudbury Wolves, the Greyhounds dropped a 5-3 decision to the Bulls on Thursday night.

Defenceman Jordan Subban scored a second-period goal to put the Bulls up 3-2 on a shot that shifted the momentum of the game into the Bulls favour.

“We had the momentum there and they capitalized on a faceoff and some missed assignments,” Stapleton said of the goal, which seemed to catch Greyhounds netminder Matt Murray by surprise.

Despite that, Stapleton credited Murray, who stopped 30 shots in the loss.

“Matt still gave us a chance to win,” Stapleton said. “We can’t continually give up grade ‘A’ scoring chances to the other team. Eventually they’re going to score on them.”

Chris Buonomo, Michael Schumacher and Sergey Tolchinsky scored for the Greyhounds in the loss.

The Bulls, who improve to 7-2-1-0 with the win, have given up just 21 goals in 10 games this season.

“They’re a good team and they make you earn what you get and when you give them the lead, they’re going to shut you down,” said Stapleton. “They just keep pushing. Credit to us, we kept fighting to the end.”

Said Belleville coach George Burnett: “Our defence as a group in the first four or five minutes of the hockey game wasn’t strong. After that, our matches, led by Jason Shaw and Stephen Silas did a terrific job against their big boys. Our forwards are doing a better job of closing from behind time and space. (The Greyhounds) got the puck to the house a few times but didn’t get a whole lot from it.”

For the Bulls, defenceman Jake Worrad set up three goals in the win after sitting out the Bulls 4-1 win over Oshawa on Oct. 13. Burnett said Worrad reacted the way he expected the 19-year-old blueliner to in getting back in the lineup.

“He’s got great feet and a willingness to get into the dirty areas,” Burnett said of Worrad. “He makes good use of his stick as far as using it to chip the puck by bigger and stronger guys and then going to get it. He gets himself into a little bit of trouble when he holds onto the puck too long and do too much with it.”

Burnett also credited forward Brendan Gaunce, who wasn’t expected to make the trip due to injury but got into the lineup, picking up an assist in the win.

“When he competes as hard as he competed tonight, everybody else gets a little bigger and stronger themselves,” said Burnett. He did a lot of good work on the backcheck, especially in the third period against the Cousins line.”

Subban and Niki Petti had a goal and an assist each in the win for Belleville while Michael Curtis, Joseph Cramarossa and Sergey Kuptsov also scored.

Bulls goaltender Malcolm Subban stopped 27 shots in the win.

With the loss, the Greyhounds record dropped to 7-5-0-0 as they prepare to end their current homestand on Sunday night when they host the Guelph Storm.

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OTHER SCORES

In St. Catharines, Dougie Hamilton scored at 2:41 of overtime to give the Niagara IceDogs a 3-2 win over the Brampton Battalion. Mitchell Theoret had a goal and two assists in the win while Ryan Strome added a goal and an assist. Goaltender Christopher Festarini stopped 37 shots in the win. Mathew Santos scored a pair of goals for Brampton in the loss.

In Peterborough, Connor Carrick’s goal one minute into the third period lifted the Plymouth Whalers to a 2-1 win over the Peterborough Petes. Goaltender Matt Mahalak stopped 23 shots for the Whalers. Petes goaltender Andrew D’Agostini stopped 39 shots.

In Sarnia, Spencer Martin stopped 37 shots as the Mississauga Steelheads beat the Sarnia Sting 5-3. Brett Foy had a goal and an assist while Damian Bourne added a pair of assists for the Steelheads. Charles Sarault scored a pair of goals for the Sting in the loss.

In Windsor, Kerby Rychel and Derek Schoenmakers scored as the Windsor Spitfires beat the Erie Otters 2-1. Erie goaltender Oscar Dansk stopped 45 shots while rookie Connor McDavid had the lone Erie goal.

In Barrie, Mark Scheifele scored three times and assisted on three other goals as the Barrie Colts beat the Ottawa 67’s 7-3. Zach Hall had two goals and four assists while Anthony Camara had a goal and three assists for the Colts, who got a 41-save performance from Mathias Niederberger. Sean Monahan and Jake Cardwell had two assists each for the 67’s in the loss.

Photo courtesy Jim Egan

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