Nurse returns as Greyhounds clinch conference

It wasn’t perfect, but the circumstances presented don’t make things easy.

As the Soo Greyhounds continue to get players back from injury, the team clinched top spot in the Ontario Hockey League’s Western Conference with a 5-1 win over the Plymouth Whalers Friday night at the Essar Centre.

“We had a lot of turnovers that I didn’t like in bad areas, just unnecessary plays,” Greyhounds Coach Sheldon Keefe said. “But we didn’t give up much in terms of shots and quality chances.

“Overall it was a good game in some challenging circumstances,” Keefe added. ”The remaining games are challenging circumstances to keep our guys mentally in it.”

Michael Bunting and Sergey Tolchinsky had a goal and an assist each for the Greyhounds while Blake Speers and Gustav Bouramman set up two goals each. Colton White, Zach Senyshyn and Nick Ritchie also scored.

Goaltender Brandon Halverson made 21 saves,

“He was just strong,” Keefe said. “He’s showing that he’s a great goaltender and he’s ready. We’re really happy with how he’s played and how he’s approached things here. It’s been a really long stretch of him playing good hockey.”

Keefe added that rookie Joseph Raaymakers will get the start on Saturday night against Sarnia.

Friday’s game marked the return to action for captain Darnell Nurse, who hadn’t played since Feb. 13 due to injury.

“I’m a little tired of course and I’ve got to keep working on the conditioning coming into the playoffs but I’ll be ready to go,” Nurse said.

“It took a little bit of time (to shake the rust), but at the same time I tried to let the game come to me,” Nurse also said.

Keefe was pleased with what he saw from the Edmonton Oilers prospect.

“All I wanted to see from Darnell was how he was skating and moving,” said Keefe. “He showed to me that he was very comfortable and not holding back. That’s really what the game was about was getting his feet under him and start getting used to quick stops and changes of direction and pressure. He dealt with that fine.”

Keefe said the plan was to get Nurse into one game over the weekend and expects the veteran blueliner to sit out on Saturday night while Connor Boland will get back in the lineup after sitting out on Friday.

Anthony DeAngelo sat the game as well and Keefe said the plan was to give the high-scoring defenceman the weekend off.

Sonny Milano had the lone goal for the Whalers while goaltender Zack Bowman stopped

“We competed hard,” said Whalers Coach Don Elland. “That’s a good team we’re playing.”

“To beat a team like that, we need to score on those and (the Greyhounds) need to hit three or four posts,” Elland also said. “If we’re going to trade posts, that’s not good for us. We had some chances and if we cash on them, it’s a different game. For us to beat a team like that, we’ve got to score. We can’t hit the post three times.”

With the win, the Greyhounds improve to 51-12-0-2 and clinches top spot in the Western Conference.

“You want to finish as high as you can and it’s an accomplishment,” Keefe said of winning the conference title. “We’re proud of the guys. It’s a nice feather in their cap for the organization and the fans. Now it allows us to turn the page and really focus on the playoffs.”

Plymouth falls to 23-35-3-2 as they continue to battle the Windsor Spitfires and Saginaw Spirit for the final playoff spot in the conference.

The Whalers loss, combined with a win by Saginaw in Sarnia on Friday night, leaves the Whalers four points behind the Spirit heading into a home-and-home series between the two teams this weekend.

Elland hopes to get a similar effort from Friday’s game in the two games with Saginaw.

“We have two big games coming up and if we get that kind of effort, we’ll be happy,” Elland said.

The Greyhounds return to action on Saturday night as they host the Sarnia Sting in a 7:07 p.m. start.

****
OTHER SCORES

In Kingston, Sam Bennett scored a pair of goals to lead the Kingston Frontenacs over the Belleville Bulls 5-2. Kingston goaltender Jeremy Helvig made 32 saves while Juho Lammikko, Ryan Verbeek and Conor McGlynn also scored. Goaltender Connor Hicks made 38 saves for Belleville while Brett Welychka and Adam Laishram had the Bulls goals.

In Sarnia, Vladislav Kodola’s goal at 9:40 of the third period was the game-winner as the Saginaw Spirit beat the Sarnia Sting 4-3. Mitchell Stephens scored a pair of goals while Kris Bennett also scored in the win, which saw the Spirit jump out to a 3-0 lead through one period before Sarnia fought back. Noah Bushnell, Troy Lajuenesse and Hayden Hodgson scored for the Sting.

In Kitchener, Jake Paterson made 45 saves as the Kitchener Rangers beat the Guelph Storm 5-3. David Miller had a goal and two assists for the Rangers while Adam Mascherin, Max Iafrate, Frank Hora and Connor Bunnaman also scored. Robby Fabbri had a goal and two assists for the Storm. Tyler Bertuzzi and Pius Suter also scored for Guelph.

In London, Josh Sterk’s goal at 12:10 of the second period was the winning goal as the London Knights beat the Owen Sound Attack 3-2. Victor Mete and Julius Bergman also scored for the Knights. Chris Bigras and Erik Bradford scored for Owen Sound.

In Mississauga, Andrew Mangiapane scored a pair of goals to lead the Barrie Colts to a 5-2 win over the Mississauga Steelheads. Justin Scott, Kevin Labanc and Josh Carrick also scored for Barrie. Brandon Devlin and Jimmy Lodge scored for Mississauga.

In Ottawa, Dante Salituro’s power play goal in the second period and a 31-save performance by Liam Herbst lifted the Ottawa 67’s to a 2-1 win over the Oshawa Generals. Salituro scored both goals for Ottawa while Tobias Lindberg had the lone Oshawa goal.

In Sudbury, Troy Timpano made 30 saves as the Sudbury Wolves beat the Peterborough Petes 3-1. Chad Heffernan, Pavel Jenys and Brady Pataki scored for the Wolves. Josh MacDonald had the Petes goal.