Skip to content

Greyhounds clinch playoff spot

It was their lone home game in a stretch of action that sees them play six of seven on the road.

It was their lone home game in a stretch of action that sees them play six of seven on the road.

The Soo Greyhounds used that game to gain ground in the Ontario Hockey League’s Western Conference thanks to a 5-2 win over the Sarnia Sting at the Essar Centre on Wednesday night. The Greyhounds moved five points ahead of the Erie Otters in the OHL’s Western Conference standings thanks to their win over Sarnia coupled with Erie’s loss in Guelph on Wednesday. The win also clinches a playoff spot for the Greyhounds.

After surrendering the first goal of the contest to Daniel Nikandrov on a shot from the neutral zone that hit a Greyhounds player before taking a strange bounce off the ice to get past Greyhounds goaltender Brandon Halverson, the Greyhounds reeled off five straight goals before Sarnia got on the board again in the third period to cap off the scoring in the contest.

“It was the same old story,” said Greyhounds Coach Sheldon Keefe. “Our guys dominate the game early. They’re in full control and they know it so they just decide that they want to play pod hockey.”

Keefe said some of the issue of late had been a by-product of the team being so talent-laden.

“It’s just a mental thing and that’s the nature of our team,” said Keefe. “There are a lot of guys that want to collect as many points as possible and they want to score as nice a goal as possible. Doing those things becomes a priority versus just being responsible with it, defending very well and giving the other team nothing. It’s hard to watch it and it’s hard to be on the bench and go through it.

“Seeing how we played against Erie and how we were committed to it tells me that it’s there,” Keefe added. “You’ve put together a team of elite offensive players and that’s how they think the game. That’s just the way that it is. That’s how they’re wired. It’s a by-product of the type of players that we have and it’s not necessarily a bad thing. I feel a lot better about it knowing that we played the type of game we did against Erie.”

Keefe added that the Greyhounds play in their recent stretch can be frustrating to watch.

“The fact that we play the game the way we did against Niagara and then the next night play a very efficient game shows me that it is a little bit of a light switch for these guys and that’s good to know but at the same time, it’s frustrating,” said Keefe. “It’s frustrating to watch. It makes you not want to build leads. It makes you not want to score because you want to see your guys work through it. Frankly it makes you want to leave the bench because they’re not playing the way they’re coached to play but it’s a by-product of the type of players that we have and the league.”

Sergey Tolchinsky had two goals and an assist for the Greyhounds while Jared McCann and Justin Bailey added a goal and an assist each. Anthony DeAngelo also had a multi-point night with a pair of assists. Michael Bunting had the other Greyhounds goal. Halverson made 31 saves for the Greyhounds.
Sting goaltender Taylor Dupuis made 35 saves while Daniel Nikandrov and Noah Bushnell scored for Sarnia.

“I certainly didn’t hate our effort,” said Sting Coach Trevor Letowski. “We had some scoring chances. We had a good push for about seven to ten minutes in the second period and if we get a break there it could have been a different story.

“That’s the type of game we needed to play,” Letowski added. “A lot of things need to go right for us to beat them in here tonight.”

The game was a return to Sault Ste. Marie for former Greyhounds first round pick Anthony Salinitri. The rookie forward was part of the Greyhounds trade that brought Anthony DeAngelo to Sault Ste. Marie.

“Tonight he was actually one of our best forwards,” Letowski said of Salinitri. “He had some pop in his step. We like Sal obviously. We moved Anthony (DeAngelo) for him. He’s a guy that we targeted and he’s got a bright future with us. He’s handled himself really well.”

The game saw just six power plays with the Greyhounds scoring on both of their man advantage opportunities and killing off all four Sting power plays.

“We spent a lot of time on that,” Keefe said of the special teams. “(On Tuesday) we practiced for 90 minutes and did nothing but special teams. We didn’t even do a warmup drill. We did nothing but special teams for the whole 90 minutes. We talked today about wanting to see progress in that area and we did. That definitely is a really big positive.”

The win improves the Greyhounds record to 39-11-0-2 while Sarnia’s record falls to 24-22-4-2.

The Greyhounds return to action on Friday night when they travel to Saginaw to take on the Spirit in the opener of a three-game road trip. The team will be in Plymouth on Saturday to face the Whalers before taking on the Sarnia Sting in Sarnia on holiday Monday.

****
OTHER SCORES

In Erie, Tyler Bertuzzi had two goals and an assist to lead the Guelph Storm to a 6-3 victory over the Erie Otters. Pius Suter also had a pair of goals for Guelph while Jason Dickinson had a goal and two assists. Noah Carrol had the other Guelph goal. Connor McDavid, Dylan Strome and Alex DeBrincat scored for Erie.

In Kingston, Conor McGlynn’s goal at 18:14 of the third period was the game-winner as the Kingston Frontenacs beat the Peterborough Petes 3-2. Zack Dorval and Lawson Crouse also scored for Kingston while Spencer Watson set up two goals. Greg Betzold and Michael Clarke scored for the Petes.

In Owen Sound, MacKenzie Blackwood stopped 39 shots as the Barrie Colts beat the Owen Sound Attack 4-2. Joseph Blandisi paced the Colts offensively with three goals while Brendan Lemieux also scored for Barrie. Petrus Palmu and Zach Nastasiuk scored for Owen Sound.

In Sudbury, Troy Timpano stopped 41 shots as the Sudbury Wolves beat the North Bay Battalion 3-2. Kyle Capobianco’s third-period goal was the game-winner for the Wolves. Matt Schmalz and Jacob Harris also scored for Sudbury. Kyle Wood and Nick Paul scored for North Bay.

In Belleville, the Ottawa 67’s scored a pair of third period goals to break a 3-3 tie and beat the Belleville Bulls 5-3. Travis Konecny scored twice for Ottawa while Jeremiah Addison chipped in with a goal and two assists. Connor Graham and Dante Salituro also scored for the 67’s. Brett Gustavsen scored a pair of goals for Belleville while Michael Cramarossa set up all three Bulls goals. Brett Welychka also scored for Belleville.

In Saginaw, five different players had goals as the Plymouth Whalers beat the Saginaw Spirit 5-1. Connor Chatham, Victor Crus Rydberg, Connor Sills, Will Bitten and Sonny Milano scored for the Whalers while Mitchell Stephens had the lone goal for Saginaw.


What's next?


If you would like to apply to become a Verified reader Verified Commenter, please fill out this form.




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.
Read more