Gameday Preview: Greyhounds hit the road for two

The Soo Greyhounds open a short two-game road trip on Friday night when they take on the Sudbury Wolves.

The game marks the second meeting of the season between the two northern rivals and the first of two meetings in a six-day span as the Wolves make a return trip to Sault Ste. Marie on Wednesday night.

In their previous meeting, Matt Murray stopped 37 shots as the Greyhounds beat the Wolves 3-1 at the Essar Centre on Oct. 17. Darnell Nurse had a goal and two assists in the win while Michael Schumacher added a goal and an assist in the win. Nick Cousins also scored in the win. Dominik Kahun had the lone goal in the loss while Joel Vienneau stopped 35 shots for the Wolves.

The Greyhounds enter Friday’s contest on the heels of a 4-3 overtime loss to the Saginaw Spirit on Wednesday at the Essar while the Wolves have lost six of their last seven games, including a 7-2 loss at the hands of the Barrie Colts on Sunday night.

Speaking of the Colts, the Greyhounds road trip wraps up on Saturday night when they travel to Barrie for the second, and final, meeting between the two clubs.

The Colts won the lone other meeting when Mark Scheifele scored the overtime winner in a 5-4 Barrie win. Scheifele finished the night with three goals for the Colts while Anthony Camara had a goal and two assists. Cousins had a goal and two assists for the Greyhounds while Murray stopped 31 shots. Colts goaltender Alex Fotinos stopped 24 Greyhounds shots before being pulled in favour of Mathias Niederberger who stopped all four shots he faced the rest of the way.

The Greyhounds enter the weekend with a 10-12-2-0 record and sit fifth in the Ontario Hockey League’s West Division. The Wolves are currently 9-13-0-2 and last in the Central Division.

The Colts enter weekend action with a 17-7-0-1 record and are first in the Central Division.

Puck drop on Friday night in Sudbury is 7:35 p.m. and 7:30 on Saturday in Barrie.