For Petes sake! Hounds suffer another tough loss

It has become an all-too-familiar trend for the Soo Greyhounds this season and it has become tough to watch at times.

For the second time in three days and for the 13th time this season, the Greyhounds dropped a one-goal game, this time at the hands of the Peterborough Petes in a 2-1 loss.

The Hounds, who were facing one of Canada's best teams as the Petes were ranked fourth nationally coming into the night, gave the Petes all that they could handle through the first period.

The locals kept pace with the swift-skating Petes as the two teams kept each others goaltenders busy. Both Trevor Cann in the Petes goal and Matt Hache, making his first appearance at Memorial Gardens, for the Greyhounds each turned aside 12 shots in a scoreless opening period.

The Greyhounds opened the scoring when Brandon MacLean scored his third goal of the season at 4:34, giving the Greyhounds the lead. The lead lasted just under four minutes as Jordan Staal, younger brother of Sudbury Wolves defenceman Marc, and Carolina Hurricanes forward Eric, beat Hache, sending the game into the third period tied at one.

Kyle Raftis then put the Greyhounds behind the eight-ball early in the period when he took a feed from Patrick Kaleta and beat Hache on the power play at 1:39. That proved to be all the Petes would need as, despite some chances by the Greyhounds the game finished in a 2-1 Petes victory.

"The biggest thing for us tonight was that we competed hard," said Hounds coach Craig Hartsburg, who leaves for the Canadian National Junior team selection camp on Sunday morning. "They battled, we hit posts again and crossbars and their goalie made some big saves. If the kids try their best and compete as hard as they can, there's nothing anybody else can ask. You can't ask much more from them tonight. We haven't got that type of effort every night or we would have won more hockey games.

"They didn't hold anything back tonight," Hartsburg continued. "The biggest thing for them is they have to give that effort every night. It has to be there every night against whoever we play."

The loss dropped the Hounds record to 9-20-2-0 (20 points), but they still manage to stay three points behind the Windsor Spitfires and, more importantly, four points behind the Sarnia Sting, who hold down the last playoff spot in the Western Conference. Both Windsor and Sarnia lost on Friday night.

Hartsburg also commented on the play of goaltender Matt Hache, who had a strong night playing in place of Kyle Gajewski, who was out of the lineup due to illness.

"(Hache) went in there and played a strong game for us," said Hartsburg of the rookie netminder. "He's played all of his games on the road and he's played some good games and our team didn't play very well in front of him. Tonight, I thought the kid battled hard for us."

The Greyhounds now prepare for another tough test as the Kitchener Rangers are in town on Sunday evening to face the Hounds in their last home game before Christmas. Game time is 7 p.m.

The team will play three road games – in Toronto on Dec. 15, Guelph on Dec. 16, and Kitchener on Dec. 18 – before the team departs for their 10-day Christmas holiday. First action after the break will be Dec. 28 in Sudbury.

*** GREYHOUNDS AUTOGRAPH SESSION ON SATURDAY:

The Soo Greyhounds have announced that they will be participating in an autograph session on Saturday, December 10 from 1 p.m. until 3 p.m. at the Station Mall.

The tables will be located in the corridor between Ocean Waves Aqua Massage and Joey Calzone's Italian Eatery & Bar.

*** AROUND THE OHL:

AT SUDBURY: Justin Azevedo had a goal and an assist to lead the Kitchener Rangers to a 4-2 victory over the Sudbury Wolves. Matt Lashoff added a pair of assists while Dan Turple stopped 20 shots in the win. Jonathan D'Aversa had a pair of assists for the Wolves.

AT SARNIA: Andrew Marshall had two goals and an assist while Vladimir Nikiforov had a pair of goals to lead the Barrie Colts to a 6-4 win over the Sarnia Sting. Bryan Little had three assists while Hunter Tremblay chipped in with two in the win. Jared Gomes had two goals while Jeff MacDougald stopped 40 shots for Sarnia.

AT OTTAWA: A goal and two assists from Brodie Beard paced the Ottawa 67's to a 5-2 victory over the Windsor Spitfires. Chris Hulit, Bryan Bickell and Elgin Reid each chipped in with a goal and an assist in the win for Ottawa.

AT MISSISSAUGA: Former Soo Greyhound Chris Lawrence had a goal and two assists in the Mississauga IceDogs' 5-2 victory over the Toronto St. Michael's Majors. Michae' Swift had two goals and two assists while Michael Swift added a goal and three helpers for the IceDogs.

AT LONDON: Rob Schremp had two goals and two assists as the London Knights scored a 4-2 victory over the visiting Saginaw Spirit. Adam Perry chipped in with a goal and two assists while David Bolland also had two assists. Francois Thuot stopped 58 shots in goal for the Spirit.

AT KINGSTON: A goal and two assists from Radek Smolenak helped the Kingston Frontenacs to a 5-1 victory over the Brampton Battalion. Peder Skinner chipped in with two assists while Cory Emmerton and Todd Griffith each had a goal and an assist for Kingston.

AT GUELPH: Tyler Doig scored in overtime to give the Guelph Storm a 5-4 win over the Owen Sound Attack. Ryan MacDonald stopped 32 shots to help the Storm to the win. Jeff Kryzakos had two goals while Bobby Ryan added two assists for the Attack in the loss.