Greyhounds hold off late push in win (updated)

The last time the Soo Greyhounds faced the Belleville Bulls a slow start cost them an opportunity to keep their undefeated streak alive.

On Friday night, the Greyhounds used a strong start to pick up a 3-2 win over the Bulls in Ontario Hockey League action at the Essar Centre.

The team built up a 3-0 lead on the Bulls before holding off a third-period push that saw Belleville score twice in the third.

“We’ve shown in the past that if you don’t start well and play catch-up hockey, it’s tough,” said Greyhounds Associate Coach Joe Cirella. “It could have been us taking advantage of their bus legs but that’s the benefit of us being up here and we’ve got to utilize it. It’s no different when we go down south. We’ve got the bus legs and we have to fight our way through it.”

During a strong opening period, the Greyhounds opened the scoring after rookie Tim Gettinger scored the first of two goals on the night for the freshman forward.

“The first goal on the power play was a tough break, it was a misdirection in the high slot but we had a great chance to clear that and we didn’t get it down and that’s usually what happens when you make a mistake like that,” Bulls Coach George Burnett said.

Gettinger played the game on a line with Gabe Guertler and Sergey Tolchinsky in the win.

“He’s getting better and he’s a big body and he plays responsibly,” Cirella said of the rookie forward. “He has a lot of skill and his strength is what we like. When we talk defensively, it’s great for him to be put into this role. He didn’t disappoint.”

Zach Senyshyn also scored for the Greyhounds in the win. Goaltender Brandon Halverson stopped 40 shots.

“He was outstanding and saved our bacon a couple of times, especially near the end (of the game),” Cirella said of Halverson. “That’s the best I’ve seen him play for a long time. There were a couple shots that were really sneaky. I don’t know if he saw them and he got his leg out and there were a couple of rebounds that he really handled well.”

Remi Elie had a goal and an assist for Belleville while Stephen Harper also scored.

“I liked our effort,” Burnett said. “We were undermanned for a number of different reasons but you can’t get behind 3-0 to a quality team like (the Greyhounds). I give our goaltender (Charlie Graham) full marks for the way he played tonight. It was nice to see our team dig in. I though the shots were in our favour later in the hockey game. Some penalties tonight cost us a little bit of momentum but it’s pretty tough to fault the effort in the third period.”

Graham made 43 saves for Belleville.

“He was solid and he’s been solid on most nights,” Burnett said of Graham. “When he’s had a tough period or a tough night, he’s always come back with a great finish or a great performance to give us a chance to win.”

With the win, the Greyhounds record improves to 12-5-0-0 while the Bulls record falls to 11-5-0-1.

The Greyhounds wrap up their three-game homestand on Saturday night when they host the Barrie Colts.

****
OTHER SCORES

Friday saw eight other games on the OHL schedule.

In Erie, Alex DeBrincat scored three times to lead the Erie Otters to a 5-2 win over the Sarnia Sting. Darren Raddysh added a goal and two assists while Connor McDavid assisted on three goals. Nick Betz also scored for Erie in the win. Nikita Korostelev and Davis Brown had a goal and an assist each for Sarnia while Pavel Zacha assisted on both Sarnia goals in the loss.

In Kingston, four different players had goals as the North Bay Battalion beat the Kingston Frontenacs 4-1. Brett McKenzie, Mike Amadio, Nick Paul and Matthew Santos scored for the Battalion in the win while Marcus McIvor and Alex Henriksson set up two goals each. Spencer Watson had the lone goal for Kingston.

In Plymouth, Mathew Campagna and Sonny Milano scored shootout goals to lead the Plymouth Whalers to a 3-2 win over the Owen Sound Attack. Milano had a pair of assists in the game while Yannick Rathgeb and Matt Mistele had power play goals for the Whalers. Owen Sound goaltender Jack Flinn stopped 36 shots in the loss.

In Guelph, Nick Moutry scored a pair of goals to lead the Saginaw Spirit to a 3-1 win over the Guelph Storm. Dylan Sadowy chipped in with two assists while Jacob Ringuette also scored for Saginaw. Guelph goaltender Justin Nichols made 41 saves in the loss while Robby Fabbri had the lone Storm goal.

In Kitchener, Ryan MacInnis had a goal and three assists as the Kitchener Rangers beat the Peterborough Petes 8-2. Brandon Robinson had two goals and an assist while Justin Bailey also had a three-point night with a goal and two assists. Brent Pedersen (one goal, one assist), Dmitri Sergeev (two assists) and Gustaf Franzen (two assists) also had multi-point nights for Kitchener. Nick Ritchie had a goal and an assist for Peterborough.

In Windsor, Max Domi had three goals and an assist to lead the London Knights to a 5-3 win over the Windsor Spitfires. Goaltender Tyler Parsons made 39 saves for the Knights while Mitchell Marner and Christian Dvorak each had three assists. Slater Doggett scored twice for Windsor in the loss.

In Mississauga, Brandon Hope made his first start for the Niagara IceDogs since being acquired from the Owen Sound Attack earlier this week and stopped 34 shots in a 3-0 shutout of the Mississauga Steelheads. Mikkel Aagaard, Billy Jenkins and Graham Knott scored for Niagara in the win.

In Sudbury, Andrew Mangiapane had three goals and two assists as the Barrie Colts routed the Sudbury Wolves 9-2. Justin Scott had two goals and an assist for the Colts while Ben Hawerchuk also scored a pair of goals. Overage forward Joseph Blandisi set up three goals in the win. Matt Schmalz and Jacob Harris scored for the Wolves in the loss.

The other scheduled game for Friday night between the Oshawa Generals and Ottawa 67’s has been postponed due to ice issues in Ottawa and will be rescheduled.

To check out our live blog of Friday's game, click here.