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Greyhounds get up early for road win

Soo Greyhounds played a rare morning game on Wednesday in Saginaw
2016-11-16 Greyhounds at Saginaw NS
Soo Greyhounds forward Tim Gettinger beats Saginaw Spirit goaltender Evan Cormier at the Dow Event Center on Wednesday in OHL action. Photo courtesy Natalie Shaver

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The timing was a little unusual but the result, not so much.

The Soo Greyhounds picked up a 5-3 road victory over the Saginaw Spirit on Wednesday morning at the Dow Event Center in Saginaw in Ontario Hockey League action.

The game was a 10:45 a.m. puck drop and one of four games in the league that were morning games.

“My biggest thing was making sure that we were ready to start on time,” Greyhounds Coach Drew Bannister said.

“We wanted to make sure that we didn’t jam the guys with too much information,” Bannister also said. “We wanted to play with a lot of pace and play our style and making sure we were ready to start on time.”

Tim Gettinger scored three times for the Greyhounds, including the game-winner at 8:34 of the third period.

“Timmy was really good,” Bannister said. “He went to the net hard and used his body really well.”

Zach Senyshyn had the other two goals for the Greyhounds.

“I see a lot of good things in his game. It’s more rounded,” Bannister said of the Boston Bruins first-rounder. “If he can be a better player away from the puck and chip in offensively like he is now then he’s an important player for us.”

Rookie goaltender Matthew Villalta got the start and made 28 saves, which included a save on high-scoring Saginaw forward Mitchell Stephens in the final minute of regulation time.

“He looked really confident,” Bannister said. “He moved the puck efficiently to our defencemen and quickly. His rebound control was good. He seemed to be tracking the puck fairly well. He made two or three really big saves. Overall he played very well.”

Wednesday’s game was the second meeting between the two teams in six days after the Spirit blanked the Greyhounds 4-0 on Friday night at the Essar Centre.

“There was a little bit of embarrassment and we wanted to have a better effort,” Bannister said.

Stephens, Cole Coskey and Damien Giroux completed the Saginaw scoring. Brady Gilmour assisted on a pair of goals.

Spirit goaltender Evan Cormier made 32 saves.

Bannister wasn’t pleased with the number of penalties the Greyhounds took as the Spirit finished the day with five power plays. He would say that

“That doesn’t happen too often with us so we’ll move on,” Bannister said. “We don’t have to usually point it out too much because we’re not a team that takes a lot of penalties during games.”

The Greyhounds return to action with a pair of home games this weekend beginning on Friday night against the Kingston Frontenacs. On Saturday night the Greyhounds host the Hamilton Bulldogs. Puck drop for both games is 7:07 p.m. at the Essar Centre.

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OTHER SCORES

In Hamilton, Matthew Strome scored his second goal of the day 1:02 into overtime to give the Hamilton Bulldogs a 3-2 win over the Niagara IceDogs. Marian Studenic had the other Hamilton goal. Will Bitten and Connor Walters assisted on a pair of goals each. Cole Ceci made 35 saves for Hamilton. Ryan Mantha and Jonathon Schaefer completed the Niagara scoring. Christopher Paquette assisted on both Niagara goals.

In Ottawa, Leo Lazarev made 23 saves as the Ottawa 67’s shut out the Peterborough Petes 2-0. Drake Rymsha and Noel Hoefenmayer completed the Ottawa scoring. Peterborough goaltender Dylan Wells made 31 saves.

In Mississauga, Renars Krastenbergs had the shootout winner as the Oshawa Generals beat the Mississauga Steelheads 2-1. Medric Mercier scored in regulation time for the Generals while goaltender Kyle Keyser stopped 38 shots. Matthew Mancina stopped 35 shots for Mississauga while Aidan McFarland had the lone Steelheads goal.

 

 


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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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