Bantam Hounds take control over Wolves

The Soo Bantam Greyhounds are a now a single game away from completing their mission.

Backed by another solid performance, the Greyhounds find themselves up 2-0 in the Northern Ontario Hockey Association (NOHA) best-of-five Bantam Minor AAA championship series.

Mike Rivard led the Greyhounds offense with two goals and an assist in a 5-2 win over the Sudbury Wolves in game two on Friday night at Memorial Gardens.

The Greyhounds opened the series with a 5-0 win on Friday afternoon. To read complete coverage of the opening game, click here.

The playdowns are one of four NOHA tournaments being host by the Sault Major Hockey Association this weekend.

After Matt Demore scored just 2:05 into game two to give the Wolves a 1-0 lead, Tyler Luikkonen scored before the period was out to tie the score at 1-1.

The Wolves regained the lead 2:22 into the second period when James Gagne scored on the power play.

But the Greyhounds responded 57 seconds later on a power play of their own as Rivard jammed in a loose puck to even the score at 2-2.

The Greyhounds sealed the win in the third period when Rivard scored the game winner with 6:52 remaining in regulation time. Jerry Petingalo added some insurance by knocking in a rebound 1:18 later and scoring an empty net goal with 50 seconds remaining.

"We really controlled the game down low today," said Greyhounds head coach Dominic DeLuca. "Our cycle was working really well. They made a few adjustments and kept their wingers high to take away the point opportunities but we still create a ton of chances for ourselves.

"We had trouble scoring early and I think that made it a little more exciting than it should have been. We played well in our own zone but I was concerned about a couple breakdowns we experienced during a couple stretches."

Greg McAllister made his first start of the series in net for the Greyhounds and recorded the win.

The series will continue on Saturday with game three scheduled for 2 p.m. at the Gardens. Game four, if necessary, will be played on Saturday night at 8 p.m. at the Rankin Arena.

"There is still one more game to go but the kids are starting to feel it and they know they are one game away and feeling pretty good about it. This is the top of the mountain for us and we have accomplished all of our goals up to this point," said DeLuca.

The Greyhounds captured both the Northern International Hockey League (NIHL) regular season and playoff championship this season along with a championship at the Steel City Tournament in January.