Greyhounds game 7 loss 'hurts real bad'

After the high of extending their season in a must-win game on home ice on Sunday night, the Soo Greyhounds season came to a disappointing end 48 hours later.

Facing elimination on Sunday, the Greyhounds forced a seventh-and-deciding game in their second round Ontario Hockey League playoff series with the Saginaw Spirit by blanking the Spirit in Sault Ste. Marie.

On Tuesday night, the season came to an end in a 3-1 game seven loss to the Spirit at the Dow Event Center.

“It hurts real bad,” said veteran forward Gavin Hayes.

Veteran defenceman Andrew Gibson said the loss was a “tough way to end” a season he described as “one of the most fun years I’ve ever had in my life.”

Greyhounds coach John Dean called his club “a very special team” after the loss.

“Probably more for who they are off the ice and how much they love the community,” Dean added. “But also how much they love each other.”

Dean added that he felt the team was “a very special team to watch play.”

“The one thing, walking out of here tonight, we’ve got a team there that left it all out there,” Dean said. “I don’t think there’s a lot of regret in that dressing room in terms of compete, effort, tenacity, will to win. These guys can hold their heads up high.”

Dean said he felt the Greyhounds looked “timid” early on in the game.

“We got away from our gameplan a little bit,” Dean added. “We were really hunting well all series, playing very physical. We looked a little nervous.”

“We looked like we were playing not to lose,” Dean also said.

Dean added that he felt the Greyhounds “found ourselves” in the second half of the second period.

“We didn’t have the start we wanted,” Hayes said. “The second period was really good. We found our groove too late.”

Hayes added that he felt the Greyhounds also had trouble generating offence in the third period as well.

Gibson agreed that the Greyhounds were “flat” in the opening period.

Dean praised Greyhounds starter Charlie Schenkel, not only for his play Tuesday night in making 31 saves, but for his play in the series as well.

Dean called Schenkel “a beast” in the loss.

“Charlie gave us an opportunity to win a game that clearly we struggled in,” Dean said of Tuesday’s contest.

Dean added that he felt Schenkel was “a monster” throughout the series.

Saginaw opened the scoring midway through the first period as Joey Willis picked up his third goal of the playoffs at 10:17. Willis drove the net and redirected a pass from Will Bishop on the right wing past Schenkel.

The Spirit continued to hold the lead well into the second period until the Greyhounds evened the score with just under five minutes to go in the second period.

Defenceman Arttu Karki couldn’t get everything on a shot from the point and the puck landed on the stick of Gavin Hayes in the right faceoff circle and the latter proceeded to put a backhand past Nolan Lalonde at 15:10.

The Spirit took the lead for good near the midway point of the third period as Calem Mangone, a Sault product, picked up his second game-winning goal of the series at 9:24. Mangone took a pass in tight from Hunter Haight below the goalline and beat Schenkel to give the Spirit a 2-1 lead.

Saginaw sealed the win with 60 seconds left in the game as a clearing attempt by Matyas Sapovaliv found its way into an empty Sault net to cap off the scoring.

Sapovaliv finished the night with a goal and an assist for the Spirit.

Lalonde made 16 saves in the victory.

Both teams were without key players in the game as well.

Owen Allard missed the game for the Greyhounds due to an injury, while high-scoring defenceman Zayne Parekh was out of the Saginaw lineup.

Saginaw also played Tuesday’s game minus veteran defenceman James Guo, who was suspended indefinitely by the league after receiving a major penalty for slashing Greyhounds rookie forward Travis Hayes late in the third period of game six.

Tuesday’s win by the Spirit continued a trend in the series that saw the teams alternate victories throughout after the Spirit won the opening game on April 11.

The Spirit advance to take on the London Knights in the OHL’s Western Conference final, which begins on Friday night in London.

The Eastern Conference final, which will see the North Bay Battalion take on the Oshawa Generals, also begins on Friday night with North Bay traveling to Oshawa.