Greyhounds drop first road game

A three-game weekend road trip started on a sour note for the Soo Greyhounds.

With a 6-0-0-0 record on the road in tow, the Greyhounds dropped a 5-2 decision at the WFCU Centre in Windsor against the Spitfires in Ontario Hockey League action on Thursday night.

A slow start against one of the OHL’s top teams put the Greyhounds behind the eight-ball early and, despite battling back, the team didn’t fully recover.

“They come hard in the first period and then they usually settle in,” Bannister said. “It was more the compete level. We were losing a lot of battles early in the game. On the two goals they scored, they were deflected

“We have to do a better job of controlling sticks in front of the net,” Bannister added.

Morgan Frost and Tim Gettinger had the goals for the Greyhounds. Overage forward Bobby MacIntyre assisted on both goals. Joseph Raaymakers made 27 saves for the Greyhounds.

Bannister would say that the Greyhounds kept themselves in the game but made a pair of crucial mistakes that led to goals, including on what was an insurance goal in the opening minute of the third period.

“We gave ourselves a chance to win but the two mistakes (were costly),” Bannister said. “It seems like whether we made two mistakes or 10 mistakes, at the points in the game when we’re making those mistakes teams are making us pay.”

“Sometimes we get away with it against other teams but against better teams in the league they make you pay,” Bannister added.

Sophomore netminder Michael DiPietro made 23 saves for Windsor.

In what has been a trend of late, Bannister said getting more pucks to the net is something the Greyhounds need to do more.

“I’d like to see us shoot more before anything,” Bannister said. “We’re passing up some pretty good opportunities to put pucks to the net and we’re not getting anything from it.”

Gabriel Vilardi and Logan Brown had a goal and an assist each to pace Windsor offensively. Defenceman Sean Day, who was picked up in a trade with the Mississauga Steelheads on Oct. 19, assisted on two goals. Aaron Luchuk, Cristiano DiGiacinto and Jeremiah Addison also scored for Windsor.

The loss drops the Greyhounds record to 8-5-1-0 while Windsor leapfrogs to the top of the OHL’s West Division with a 9-4-0-0 record and 18 points, one better than the Greyhounds and Sarnia Sting.

The road trip continues on Friday night as the Greyhounds travel to London to take on the Knights before wrapping up the trip on Sunday afternoon in Guelph against the Storm.

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OTHER SCORES

In North Bay, Brett McKenzie’s shootout goal clinched a 5-4 win for the North Bay Battalion over the Oshawa Generals. Brent Moran made 40 saves for the Battalion and stopped three of four shooters in the shootout. Adam Thilander had a goal and an assist while Zach Shankar assisted on a pair of goals for North Bay. Cam Dineen, Brad Chenier and Steve Harland also scored for North Bay. Jack Studnicka, Kyle MacLean, Medric Mercier and Grayden Gottschalk scored for Oshawa.

In Erie, Alex DeBrincat had two goals and two assists as the Erie Otters skated to a 5-2 win over the Barrie Colts. Taylor Raddysh added a goal and two assists while Kyle Maksimovich assisted on three goals for Erie. Brett Neumann and Kyle Pettit also scored. Giordano Finoro and Anthony Stefano scored for Barrie. Colts goaltender David Ovsjannikov made 40 saves,

In St. Catharines, Stephen Dhillon made 43 saves as the Niagara IceDogs beat the Saginaw Spirit 5-3. Johnny Corneil had a goal and an assist for the IceDogs. Hayden Davis, Christopher Paquette, Oliver Castleman and Matthew Philip also scored for Niagara. Mitchell Stephens had a goal and an assist for Saginaw. Brady Gilmour and Kris Bennett also scored for the Spirit.

In Peterborough, Dylan Wells made 36 saves as the Peterborough Petes beat the Flint Firebirds 4-2. Cole Fraser, Nick Isaacson, Adam Timleck and Logan DeNoble completed the scoring for the Petes. Mathieu Henderson had both goals for Flint.