Overtime result ends Greyhounds weekend (update)

Despite the result, Soo Greyhounds Coach Drew Bannister spoke of the pride he had after the team wrapped up its three-game road trip Sunday.

Stephen Harper scored at 1:56 of overtime to give the Hamilton Bulldogs a 3-2 victory over the Greyhounds in a game that finished a stretch of three road games in just under three days on Sunday evening.

Bannister was pleased with the effort for the most part despite the result.

“We were all over them,” Bannister said. “We were moving our feet. We kept them hemmed into their zone. Then the one unfortunate incident where the young man (Bulldogs defenceman Justin Lemcke) got injured and then the game got a little bit out of control. Once we got sucked into it, it didn’t work to our advantage. It slowed the game down and we got away from our game plan a little bit.”

“Overall, the performance was good,” Bannister added. “To come on the road and get five out of six points in less than three days, that’s the positive that we’ll take from it.”

While heading into the corner after a loose puck with Greyhounds forward Boris Katchouk, Lemcke’s right leg buckled under him as he went into the boards. The recently-named Bulldogs captain was taken from the ice on a stretcher.

Details on Lemcke’s injury were not known following the injury.

For the Greyhounds, a pair of major penalties in the second period led to the Bulldogs enjoying a five-on-three for just under four minutes.

Keigan Goetz took the first major penalty after a hit on Matt Luff in the Greyhounds zone. Goetz was given a match penalty for elbowing

Hayden Verbeek then took a major penalty for a check from behind on Adam Laishram.

Both Luff and Laishram left the game with injuries following the hits.

Hamilton would tie the game at one thanks to a goal by Cole Candella in the opening minute of the Goetz major.

The Candela goal was the Bulldogs lone marker on the extended power play time.

“(The penalty killing) was phenomenal,” Bannister said. “There weren’t many shots for almost four minutes of five-on-three.”

Bannister told reporters following the game regarding the Verbeek major that “I don’t think it should have been a penalty. It was a check where both players were going in for the puck and the other player just pulled up and turned his shoulder and they made contact. They both went in hard and it’s reactionary by the refs.”

Bulldogs goaltender Charlie Graham stopped 29 shots.

“He was extremely good,” Bannister said of the overage netminder. “He’s a veteran goalie and one of the better ones in the league and he played extremely well for them. He kept them in at times when we started to get some momentum.”

Greyhounds goaltender Joseph Raaymakers stopped 22 shots.

“He was motivated and he was very sharp tonight,” Bannister said. “He played extremely well and kept us in the game when we were short.”

Jack Kopacka and Zach Senyshyn scored for the Greyhounds.

Matthew Strome also scored for the Bulldogs.

The Greyhounds return to action on Wednesday night against the Flint Firebirds. Game time at the Essar Centre is 7:07 p.m.

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OTHER SCORES

In Mississauga, Zach Grzelewski’s goal at 19:15 of the third period was the game-winner as the Flint Firebirds beat the Mississauga Steelheads 2-1. Bryce Yetman also scored for Flint while goaltender Kyle Keyser stopped 28 shots. Alexander Nylander had the lone goal for Mississauga while goaltender Jack Flinn stopped 31 shots.

In Sudbury, Troy Lajuenesse scored three times to lead the Sarnia Sting to a 5-2 win over the Sudbury Wolves. Noah Bushnell and Alexandre Renaud also scored for the Sting while goaltender Justin Fazio stopped 28 shots. Jakob Chychrun added a pair of assists for the Sting. Danny Desrochers and David Levin scored for the Wolves. Sudbury goaltender Troy Timpano stopped 31 shots.

In Oshawa, five different players had goals as the London Knights beat the Oshawa Generals 5-2. Aaron Berisha had a goal and an assist for London while Christian Dvorak, Owen MacDonald, Aiden Jamieson and Mitchell Marner also had goals. Matthew Tkachuk and Kole Sherwood assisted on a pair of goals each for the Knights. Daniel Robertson and Stephen Desrocher scored for Oshawa.