Greyhounds edge Colts to open road trip

The wins keep coming for the Soo Greyhounds.

Since splitting their first four games following the Christmas break, the Greyhounds have now won six in a row after a 4-3 win over the Barrie Colts on Thursday night in Ontario Hockey League action.

Goaltender Brandon Halverson made 30 saves in the win for the Greyhounds.

“He was dialed in and he really gave us an opportunity when we had some breakdowns,” said Greyhounds Associate Coach Joe Cirella, who spoke with the media following the win. “That’s what we need from him is to play that way.”

Halverson made some waves in the third period, with the Greyhounds leading 4-2, when he circled the Greyhounds net and his pass attempt was deposited into the Greyhounds goal to make it 4-3 with just over six minutes remaining.

“He made a good play coming around the net and he was going to play it to the other side (of the goal) and he put the puck in the net,” Cirella said of the play. “After that he was dialed in and made some key saves right after that as well. He’s an asset when he plays the puck and moves it. When he makes that one mistake, he came back and really played well after that.”

“It didn’t faze him when the fans were all over him,” Cirella added. “He could have folded.”

Immediately after the goal, the Greyhounds called a timeout and Coach Sheldon Keefe’s message to the team was a simple one.

“The message was to stay with the process,” Cirella said of the timeout. “It was to stay focused and don’t let the distractions distract us.”

Jared McCann’s power play goal in the third period was the game-winner while Michael Bunting, Medric Mercier and Darnell Nurse also scored in the win. Anthony DeAngelo and Justin Bailey set up a pair of goals each for the Greyhounds in the win.

“The guys played really hard,” Cirella said. “They battled but it’s still a process. There were still some things that good teams like Barrie can expose. They had some opportunities and Halvy came up big. We had the opportunity on the power play and ended up getting a goal on that. It’s just a process. We have to continue to get better every day.”

Ben Harpur, Andrew Mangiapane and Joseph Blandisi scored for Barrie in the loss. Goaltender Daniel Gibl stopped 28 shots.

With the win, the Greyhounds improve to 33-9-0-2 while Barrie drops to 26-15-1-1 with the loss.

The Greyhounds continue their three-game road trip on Friday night in Mississauga when they face the Steelheads. Puck drop is set for 7:30 p.m. The road trip concludes on Sunday afternoon in Guelph against the Storm.

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OTHER SCORES

In North Bay, Evan Cormier made 46 saves as the Saginaw Spirit blanked the North Bay Battalion 3-0. Dylan Sadowy had a pair of goals for Saginaw in the win. Connor Brown also scored for the Spirit. Jake Smith made 15 saves for the Battalion in the loss.

In Peterborough, despite a 52-save performance by goaltender Matthew Mancina, the Peterborough Petes dropped a 5-2 decision to the Oshawa Generals. Tobias Lindberg had two goals and an assist for the Generals to lead the way offensively. Michael Dal Colle also had a pair of goals in the win. Kenny Huether also scored in the win while goaltender Ken Appleby stopped 29 shots. Dominik Masin had a goal and an assist for the Petes in the loss. Eric Cornel also scored for Peterborough.

(File Photo: Greyhounds goaltender Brandon Halverson. Kenneth Armstrong/SooToday)