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Greyhounds eliminate Storm from playoff contention (9 photos)

The Soo Greyhounds lead atop the OHL's West Division increased on Friday night while also eliminating a team from playoff contention

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It wasn’t the perfect start but the Soo Greyhounds rebounded to pick up an important two points in the Ontario Hockey League standings on Friday night.

The Greyhounds scored five times in the final 40 minutes to beat the Guelph Storm 6-0 at the Sleeman Centre in Guelph Friday.

“They outplayed us in the first,” said Greyhounds Coach Drew Bannister.

“In the second and third we were really good,” Bannister also said.

Guelph Coach Jarrod Skalde echoed Bannister’s sentiments about the opening 20 minutes.

“I thought we played very structured, I thought we carried the pace, we outshot them and we out-chanced them,” Skalde said

“But one turnover at the offensive blue line and it’s 1-0 and you can just feel the momentum change on our bench and try to get back to where we were and it was difficult.”

Greyhounds forward Morgan Frost, who had a goal and an assist, called the game “one of our more complete games of the season.”

Greyhounds netminder Matthew Villalta made 37 saves for the shutout.

The rookie netminder, who picked up win number 21 on the season said the shutout “feels really good.”

“Matty kept us in there in the first,” Bannister said. “He was excellent the whole game when he needed to be, especially in the first period and in the third period when they were on the power play.”

The Greyhounds killed off five Guelph power plays in the contest, all in the third period.

“Our penalty killers did a really good job,” Bannister said. “We got some bounces but overall it was really good.”

Zach Senyshyn and rookie forward Barrett Hayton scored a pair of goals each for the Greyhounds. Blake Speers had the other goal for the Greyhounds. Tim Gettinger picked up three assists while Bobby MacIntyre assisted on a pair of goals.

Guelph goaltender Liam Herbst stopped 33 shots.

The Greyhounds improve to 42-15-3-1 and, with 88 points, move six points ahead of the Windsor Spitfires in the OHL’s West Division though Windsor has a game in hand, which will be Saturday night against the London Knights.

The Storm, eliminated officially from playoff contention in the Western Conference with the loss, fall to 20-35-3-2.

The Greyhounds wrap up the weekend road trip on Sunday afternoon in Kitchener against the Rangers.

With files from GuelphToday’s Tony Saxon

*****

OTHER SCORES

In Erie, Anthony Cirelli scored three times as the Erie Otters beat the Niagara IceDogs 10-1. Alex DeBrincat had two goals and an assist while Christian Girhiny and Cameron Lizotte also had two goals each for Erie. Jordan Sambrook chipped in with a goal and two assists. Ondrej Machala had the lone goal for Niagara.

In Flint, Ryan Moore and Jalen Smereck had a goal and an assist each as the Flint Firebirds beat the Sudbury Wolves 4-2. Goaltender Connor Hicks made 28 saves for the Firebirds. Ty Dellandrea and Maurizio Colella also scored for Flint. Liam Dunda and Kyle Capobianco scored for Sudbury while goaltender Jake McGrath made 44 saves.

In Kingston, Jeremy Helvig made 22 saves as the Kingston Frontenacs blanked the Ottawa 67’s 4-0. Jason Robertson scored three times for Kingston. Ted Nichol had the other Frontenacs. Stephen Desrocher assisted on two goals. Ottawa goaltender Leo Lazarev made 34 saves.

In Mississauga, Spencer Watson had a goal and three assists as the Mississauga Steelheads beat the North Bay Battalion 4-1. Michael McLeod had a goal and two assists while Jacob Cascagnette added a goal and an assist for the Steelheads. Nicolas Hague also scored for Mississauga. Brett McKenzie had the lone goal for North Bay.

In Saginaw, Hayden Hodgson and Kris Bennett had a goal and an assist each as the Saginaw Spirit beat the Oshawa Generals 3-1. Brady Gilmour had the other goal for the Spirit while goaltender Evan Cormier made 26 saves. Oshawa goaltender Jeremy Brodeur made 35 saves. Eric Henderson had the lone Generals goal.

In Kitchener, Cliff Pu’s goal at 19:20 of the third period was the game-winner as the London Knights scored five unanswered goals to beat the Kitchener Rangers 5-4. Victor Mete had a goal and two assists for the Knights. Pu and Evan Bouchard had a goal and an assist each. J.J. Piccinich had the other London goal. Robert Thomas and Mitchell Stephens assisted on two goals each for London. Darby Llewellyn had two goals and an assist for Kitchener. Connor Bunnaman had a goal and an assist while Elijah Roberts assisted on two goals for the Rangers. Greg Meireles had the other Kitchener.

In Hamilton, Zach Gallant and Christopher Paquette had a goal and an assist each as the Peterborough Petes beat the Hamilton Bulldogs 4-2. Josh Coyle and Nick Isaacson also scored for the Petes. Justin Lemcke and Connor Roberts scored for Hamilton.


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Brad Coccimiglio

About the Author: Brad Coccimiglio

A graduate of Loyalist College’s Sports Journalism program, Brad Coccimiglio’s work has appeared in The Hockey News as well as online at FoxSports.com in addition to regular freelance work with SooToday before joining the team full time.
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