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Greyhounds remain unbeaten thanks to Goetz game-winner

The first road trip of the Ontario Hockey League season for the Soo Greyhounds might not have been an easy one, but it was successful.

The first road trip of the Ontario Hockey League season for the Soo Greyhounds might not have been an easy one, but it was successful.

The Greyhounds picked up a 2-0 victory in Sudbury Friday in their first regular season matchup with the Wolves, a game that saw the Greyhounds use a pair of third-period goals to pick up the win.

Keigan Goetz picked up his second game-winning goal of the season as he converted an opportunity past Sudbury goaltender Troy Timpano 2:34 into the third period. Goetz also picked up a goal in the Greyhounds 3-2 win over the Niagara IceDogs on Saturday night.

“He’s working extremely hard and getting rewarded for it,” Greyhounds Coach Sheldon Keefe said of Goetz. “This is a guy who has scored a lot right from the start of training camp. Our first training camp game he scored a hat trick and he scored a couple in exhibition (games). He’s been scoring. He’s working and putting the puck in the net.”

Keefe spoke highly of Goetz and his linemates (Trent Mallette and Anthony Salinitri) as well following the win.

“That whole line was really good,” Keefe said. “Trent Mallette had a very strong game. It was a 1-0 game and before we made it 2-0, just before we scored we had Salinitri, Mallette and Goetz on the ice. Those guys played hard and they deserved extra minutes.”

Brandon Halverson got his third-straight start and stopped 28 shots for his first shutout of the young season. The 28-save performance included a pair of stops on Wolves forward Ivan Kashtanov late in the opening period and a third-period stop on Nathan Pancel with the game result still in doubt.

“(Sudbury) had some really strong opportunities at different times where he really needed to be sharp and he was exactly that,” said Keefe. “He’s just looking extremely confident and calm in the net. You can tell his game has grown a lot here.”

David Miller had the other goal for the Greyhounds in the win,

“Overall we played well,” said Keefe. “Sudbury made it tough on us. They were hard on pucks. They’re big and strong. They played a very simple defence as well that meant we really had to fight for everything. Their goaltender played extremely well so goals were hard to come by. It was tough to really get ahold of the game.”

The game, originally scheduled to be a 7:30 p.m. start, was pushed back to 8 p.m. after an accident on Highway 69 forced the games referees – Mike Marley and Korey Bannerman – to reroute their trip north through North Bay in order to get to Sudbury.

With the win, the Greyhounds improve to 4-0 while the loss drops the Wolves record to 1-3.

Friday’s game was the Greyhounds lone match of the weekend. The team now prepared for a home game Wednesday night against Sudbury.

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AROUND THE OHL

The second Friday of the regular season was typically busy around the OHL with seven other games on the schedule along with the matchup between the Greyhounds and Wolves.

In Kingston, the Belleville Bulls skated to a 4-2 win over the hometown Frontenacs. Charlie Graham made 38 saves for the Bulls while Niki Petti had a pair of goals in the win.

In North Bay, Nick Paul and Sault native Michael Amadio had shootout goals to lead the North Bay Battalion to a 3-2 win over the Peterborough Petes.

In Sarnia, Mackenzie Blackwood stopped 35 shots as the Barrie Colts beat the Sarnia Sting 4-2.

In Guelph, Pius Suter had two goals and an assist as the Guelph Storm doubled up the Plymouth Whalers 4-2.

In London, Justin Bailey had two goals and an assist to lead the Kitchener Rangers to a 4-1 win over the London Knights. Goaltender Matthew Greenfield stopped 30 shots for the Rangers.

In Mississauga, Lucas Venuto’s goal at 13:47 of the third period held up as the winner as the Mississauga Steelheads beat the Niagara IceDogs 4-3. Mississauga goaltender Spencer Martin made 51 saves in the win while Niagara goaltender Brent Moran stopped 34 in the loss.

In Oshawa, Ken Appleby stopped all 31 shots he faced as the Oshawa Generals blanked the Ottawa 67’s 3-0. Bradley Latour scored a pair of goals for Oshawa in the win.

File Photo: Soo Greyhounds forward Keigan Goetz by Kenneth Armstrong/SooToday


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Brad Coccimiglio

About the Author: Brad Coccimiglio

A graduate of Loyalist College’s Sports Journalism program, Brad Coccimiglio’s work has appeared in The Hockey News as well as online at FoxSports.com in addition to regular freelance work with SooToday before joining the team full time.
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