Greyhounds defensively dominant in Sunday afternoon win

Considering the magnitude of the game, Soo Greyhounds coach John Dean called it the best defensive game his team has played this season.

With 11 games remaining in their Ontario Hockey League regular season schedule, the Greyhounds made things difficult in most ways on Sunday afternoon for the Kitchener Rangers.

A strong defensive effort led to a 3-0 victory by the Greyhounds over the Rangers Sunday at the GFL Memorial Gardens.

Dean called it a “fantastic” hockey game from his club.

“All 20 guys, all 18 skaters, really dedicated themselves to doing the small things,” Dean added. “I loved our neutral zone play, slowing them down through the neutral, shutting them down in at the blueline.”

Dean added that he was pleased with the Greyhounds forecheck “from the second period on.”

“We were pretty suffocating on the forecheck in the last 40 minutes,” Dean also said.

Defenceman Caeden Carlisle called the defensive effort “very satisfying.”

“We were unreal at closing them as soon as possible,” Carlisle added. “Our low forward and our D were both good at closing, ending their cycle. We were really good off the rush defensively.”

Forward Justin DeZoete added that he felt the Greyhounds “played a complete game from the goalie out.”

“Our defence were outstanding, and our forward were great as well,” DeZoete added. “When we play like that and roll four lines, I think there’s no other team in the league that can keep up with us.”

Rangers coach Jussi Ahokas felt the Rangers started the game well, but the final two periods caused the visitors issues in the loss.

“The first period was a pretty good period, we were a little bit better team in the first,” Ahokas said. “We could have had more chances. We were missing the net quite a bit on our shots. In the second and third, that’s where we didn’t work hard enough. We weren’t going to the net. We weren’t shooting when we should have. That’s pretty much the biggest thing for us today. We weren’t taking our shots. If you don’t go to the net, you don’t drive to the net, you don’t get chances.”

Ahokas agreed that puck management was also an issue for the Rangers in the loss.

“We knew the puck management has to be better, but it wasn’t there,” Ahokas said. “When you’re losing the puck battles and you don’t play smart and you don’t go to the net, that’s when you lose a hockey game.”

For the Greyhounds, Dean said making things difficult on the Rangers when managing the puck started with the Sault’s management of the puck in the offensive zone.

“If you manage the puck well in the offensive zone, on their way out when they try to make plays, us getting above the puck forces them into sloppy turnovers,” Dean said. “We made really good decisions on when to drop to our neutral zone trap and when to be aggressive.”

Dean said that in the first period, he felt the Greyhounds gave the Rangers too much when breaking out of their own zone but responded well in the final two periods.

After a scoreless opening period, the Greyhounds got on the board first 2:31 into the second period as DeZoete redirected a pass in tight from Christopher Brown cut to the net from the right wing and hit the latter with a pass. 

The Greyhounds took a 2-0 lead at 12:58 of the third period when Jack Beck redirected a pass in tight from Bryce McConnell-Barker on the left wing past Kitchener goaltender Jackson Parsons.

Jordan D’Intino capped off the scoring in the game for the Greyhounds with an empty net goal with 1:40 to go in the contest.

Beck finished the day with a goal and an assist offensively for the Greyhounds.

Charlie Schenkel made 19 saves for the shutout.

While he wasn’t busy in the contest, Dean said the veteran netminder looked “steady and confident” in the win.

Parsons stopped 23 shots for the Rangers.

With the win, the Greyhounds improve to 38-16-2-1 on the season and pull to within four points of the Saginaw Spirit for first in the OHL's West Division. The Greyhounds entered Sunday with a game in hand on the Spirit.

The Greyhounds are off until Friday night when the team continues its four-game homestand by hosting the Oshawa Generals. The homestand then wraps up on March 3 against the Sarnia Sting.

Saginaw is also off until Friday night when the team travels to Brantford to take on the Bulldogs in the first game of a stretch of four in a row away from home for the Spirit.

The Rangers fall to 36-20-2-0 with Sunday’s loss and trail the Greyhounds by five points for third in the Western Conference standings. The Greyhounds also have a game in hand on the Rangers, who are slated to return to action on Friday night as well when the host the conference-leading London Knights.