Skip to content

Greyhounds falter in trip opener

Call it a lesson for the Soo Greyhounds as the team opened up a three-game road trip on a disappointing note in St. Catharines on Thursday night
sports_soo_greyhounds_notext

Winmar-Sponsor_2 (1)

It was the first meeting of the Ontario Hockey League season for two of the OHL’s best and for the Soo Greyhounds, it was a 30-minute effort that is tough to swallow.

A three-goal second period and five unanswered goals lifted the IceDogs to a 6-1 win over the Greyhounds Thursday night at the Meridian Centre in St. Catharines.

“We changed our style of play for the last 30 minutes and we made a lot of mistakes that were costly and ended up in the back of our net,” said Greyhounds Coach John Dean.

Keeping the game tight early was something that changed in the second half of the game for the Greyhounds and that’s when the IceDogs opened up the contest.

“We kept our game really tight with five-foot passes in the first 30 minutes and we carried possession, especially in the first 10 minutes of the second period,” Dean said.

“In the second half of the game there were a lot of what you would call hope plays and trying to be too cute,” Dean added. “We weren’t hard on pucks. They had two goals where we got outworked and had our sticks lifted and it ended up in the back of our net.”

“We’re disappointed with our game,” said Greyhounds captain Barrett Hayton. “A lot of details were missing and playing a team like (Niagara) that is so dangerous offensively, it comes back to bite you.”

After Akil Thomas opened the scoring in the opening minute of the game, the score remained that way until Holden Wale tied the contest with his third goal of the season just under eight minutes into the second period.

It was a goal by Philip Tomasino at 11:26 of the second period that seemingly turned the game in the IceDogs favour.

“After the second goal, it deflated us,” said Greyhounds defenceman Mac Hollowell.

“We had a lot of turnovers that led to odd-man rushes for them,” Hollowell also said.

Matthew Villalta got the start in goal for the Greyhounds, stopping 19 shots before being pulled after Niagara sixth goal.

Ethan Taylor finished the night for the Greyhounds, stopping all five shots in just over 12 minutes of action the rest of the way.

Dean said he had not made a decision on the Greyhounds starter for Friday night as the road trip continues in Erie against the Otters but did say that the opportunity to get back on the ice quickly after Thursday’s loss is a good thing.

“The beautiful thing about hockey is there’s an opportunity tomorrow to right a wrong,” Dean said.

Niagara goaltender Stephen Dhillon made 27 stops.

Thomas finished the night with two goals and an assist while Tomasino also had three points with a goal and a pair of helpers.

Jason Robertson chipped in with a goal and an assist while Ben Jones and Oliver Castleman also scored for Niagara.

The Greyhounds fall to 31-11-5-1 with the loss but remain four points ahead of the Saginaw Spirit atop the OHL’s West Division as the Spirit had the night off on Thursday.

Meanwhile, Niagara improves to 31-10-7-0 and pulls to within seven points of the Eastern Conference-leading Ottawa 67’s. The win also gives Niagara a 10-point cushion over the Sudbury Wolves atop the Central Division.

In other action around the OHL on Thursday, in North Bay, Colton Incze made 38 saves as the Windsor Spitfires doubled up the North Bay Battalion 4-2. Windsor built a 4-0 lead through 40 minutes before the Battalion scored a pair of goals in the final period to make the game close. Luke Burghardt had both goals for North Bay.

In Barrie, Sean Josling had a pair of goals as the Sarnia Sting beat the Barrie Colts 7-2. Calvin Martin and Franco Sproviero chipped in with a goal and an assist each for the Sting. Jamieson Rees and Hugo Leufvenius assisted on two goals each for Sarnia.

Thursday’s scheduled game between the Erie Otters and Mississauga Steelheads in Mississauga was postponed because of poor weather in southern Ontario\. The game will be rescheduled.


What's next?


If you would like to apply to become a Verified reader Verified Commenter, please fill out this form.


Discussion


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.
Read more