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Greyhounds enter break rolling (8 photos)

The Soo Greyhounds will enter the Christmas break on a 20-game winning streak

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Throughout much of the last six weeks, the Soo Greyhounds have shown an ability to win games in a variety of ways.

On Saturday, the Greyhounds extended its team-record Ontario Hockey League winning streak to 20 games thanks to a 7-1 win over the Guelph Storm at the Sleeman Centre in Guelph.

After a scoreless first period, the Greyhounds scored five times in the second period to break the game open en route to the victory.

For the Greyhounds, it was the ideal way to head into the Christmas break.

“There was good energy in the room before the game and I could tell the guys were ready to play,” said Greyhounds Coach Drew Bannister. “They were a focused group and it showed on the ice.”

Bannister would also say the game itself held many positives as the team heads into a 12-day break.

“I loved our back-pressure,” Bannister said. “Our guys were working back really hard, which created turnovers for our transition. We did a lot of good things with the puck. We had it for a lot of the game and maintained it. We didn’t throw (the puck) away. Overall, there wasn’t a lot bad in that hockey game. There weren’t any passengers today.”

Morgan Frost paced the Greyhounds with two goals and two assists in the victory and moved himself into a tie for second in the OHL scoring race with Aaron Luchuk of the Barrie Colts at 55 points. The Colts are in action tonight in St. Catharines against the Niagara IceDogs.

“Morgan has been on quite a roll here of late,” Bannister said of the Philadelphia Flyers prospect. “He’s been playing well.”

Overage defenceman Noah Carroll, who played two and a half seasons with the Storm prior to joining the Greyhounds last season, also had career-day offensively with a goal and three assists.

“Noah has really stepped up his game in the absence of Conor (Timmins),” Bannister said. “Noah was very good today and it was nice to see him have some success against his old team.”

Barrett Hayton had two goals and an assist while defenceman Mac Hollowell also had a three-point day for the Greyhounds with three assists. Joe Carroll and Ryan Roth also scored for the Greyhounds.

Goaltender Matthew Villalta made 25 saves for the Greyhounds.

The Greyhounds winning streak is the fourth-longest in OHL history. The league record is 25 games, set by the Kitchener Rangers during the 1983-84 season.

Bannister called the break an opportunity for some rest as players return on Dec. 27.

“I’m sure some guys on our team would love to keep playing but I don’t think (the break) matters,” Bannister said. “You have to break sometime. It’s important for our kids to get some rest here. We’re been playing a lot of hockey as of late. This will be a good thing for us.”

Isaac Ratcliffe had the lone goal for the Storm.

Sophomore netminder Anthony Popovich got the start for the Storm and stopped 23 of 28 shots in 40 minutes of work. Nico Daws came in and stopped nine shots for the Storm in the final period.

“We played like we were in awe,” said Guelph Coach George Burnett in an interview with GuelphToday.

“They were putting it to us all night long. They’re a patient, poised and experienced club. We lacked a lot of battle, we lacked a lot of things tonight,” Burnett added. “Clearly some big lessons were learned, and the video won’t be fun watching.”

The Greyhounds will head into the Christmas break with a 29-3-2-0 record and sit eight points ahead of the Sarnia Sting in the OHL’s West Division as the Sting dropped a 5-2 decision to the Flint Firebirdson Saturday night.

Meanwhile, the Storm record falls to 17-12-1-2 while the team continues to chase the Midwest Division-leading Kitchener Rangers, who dropped a narrow 4-3 decision to the Greyhounds in Kitchener on Friday night.

The Greyhounds return to action on Dec. 28 on the road in Saginaw against the Spirit, which begins a stretch of three games in three days to end the month of December. The team will return home from Saginaw to host Flint on Dec. 29 and Guelph on Dec. 30. Start time for both games at the Essar Centre is set for 7:07 p.m.

Saturday’s schedule had six other games including the matchup between Sarnia and Flint.

In Sarnia, Ty Dellandrea had three goals and two assists to lead Flint to the victory over the Sting. Maurizio Colella and Connor Roberts chipped in with a goal and an assist each for Flint.

In Erie, Anand Oberoi made 28 saves as the Erie Otters blanked the North Bay Battalion 3-0. Kyle Maksimovich had two goals and an assist for the Otters.

In London, Tyler Rollo scored a pair of goals as the London Knights beat the Mississauga Steelheads 3-1.

In St. Catharines, Jaden Peca had a goal and an assist as the Barrie Colts beat the Niagara IceDogs 5-3.

In Saginaw, Cole Purboo had two goals and two assists as the Windsor Spitfires beat the Saginaw Spirit 5-1. Jake Smith added a goal and two assists for the Spitfires. 

In Owen Sound, shootout goals by Matt Hotchkiss and Jason Robertson were the difference as the Kingston Frontenacs beat the Owen Sound Attack 2-1. Frontenacs goaltender Jeremy Helvig made 36 saves and stopped both Owen Sound shooters in the shootout.


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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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