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Greyhounds hit 100 points

Travel issues made life a little more difficult on the road for the Soo Greyhounds, but the game result was very familiar
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Soo Greyhounds' goalie Matthew Villalta. Jeff Klassen/SooToday

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WINDSOR, Ont. – Considering the circumstances, the Soo Greyhounds will take the result and move on to London.

After the closing of the Mackinac Bridge turned their travel plans awry, the Greyhounds picked up a 4-2 win over the Windsor Spitfires in Ontario Hockey League action at the WFCU Centre Saturday night. 

The team, intending to travel on Friday ahead of its two-game weekend road trip, wound up spending much of Friday on the bus stuck in St. Ignace and waiting out the bridge closure, only to turn back and leave Sault Ste. Marie early Saturday morning and wait again until the bridge was finally reopened at 9 a.m. Saturday.

“(The game) was kind of what you would expect for a team that sat on the bus for nine hours in St. Ignace last night and then got up at 6 this morning to get on the bus and leave at 7 and not get here until 2 p.m.,” said Greyhounds Coach Drew Bannister. “We weren’t sharp, and our legs weren’t underneath us. Mentally, we were a little bit fatigued from the last two days of trying to get here.”

A pair of goals in the third period by veteran forward Boris Katchouk broke open the game for the Greyhounds. The 19-year-old scored three times in the win while Jack Kopacka had the other goal for the Greyhounds. 

Goaltender Matt Villalta made 22 saves for the Greyhounds.

“We didn’t really give up (many chances) and when we did, Matty was there to make the saves,” Bannister said. 

“He was really good,” Bannister also said of Villalta. “Matty was there when we needed him when we weren’t as sharp as we would usually be.”

Bannister confirmed that Tyler Johnson will get the start Sunday afternoon in London against his former team.

The team was set to travel to London following Saturday’s game in Windsor, something Bannister hopes will bring some normalcy to the travel schedule after two days of struggles to make it to Windsor.

“Hopefully there are no bridges to cross,” Bannister joked. “At least we’ll get the kids in bed at a decent time here tonight and let them get some rest and get ready.”

Igor Larionov had a goal and an assist for the Spitfires. Luke Kutkevicius had the other Windsor goal.

Rookie goaltender Lucas Patton stopped 13 shots for the Spitfires.

“We didn’t create much ourselves,” Bannister said. “We weren’t moving our feet but it’s a tough game to judge. You walk away happy that you got two points and you don’t want to judge it too much.”

Conor Timmins remained out of the lineup due to injury while Jacob LeGuerrier was also out due to injury after a hit by Kelton Hatcher of the Sarnia Sting last weekend in the Sault. Hatcher was subsequently suspended five games for the hit.

LeGuerrier is out with what the team called an “upper-body injury” and Bannister said he remains out day-to-day, as does Timmins. Neither are expected to play Sunday afternoon in London. 

Bannister also said that the injury suffered by 20-year-old forward Keeghan Howdeshell that was expected to keep him out until possibly the opening round of the playoffs might not keep him out as long as the team originally expected.

The win improves the Greyhounds record to 48-6-2-2 and gives the team 100 points on the season, marking just the fourth time in franchise history the team has reached the mark. 

Windsor falls to 27-26-3-2 with the loss.

In other games around the OHL on Saturday night, in Flint, Hayden McCool had a pair of goals as the Oshawa Generals beat the Flint Firebirds 5-2. Brendan Harrogate and Danil Antropov had a goal and an assist each for the Generals. 

In Hamilton, MacKenzie Entwistle had a goal and two assists as the Hamilton Bulldogs beat the Sudbury Wolves 5-3. Blake Murray scored twice for the Wolves.

In St. Catharines, Akil Thomas and Sam Miletic had a goal and an assist each as the Niagara IceDogs beat the North Bay Battalion 4-2. North Bay goaltender Christian Propp made 36 saves.

In Sarnia, Ivan Lodnia’s goal at 13:18 of the third period was the difference as the Erie Otters beat the Sarnia Sting 2-1. Erie goaltender Anand Oberoi made 36 saves. 

In Barrie, Aidan Brown had a pair of goals as the Barrie Colts beat the Guelph Storm 5-3. Lucas Chiodo had a goal and an assist for Barrie while Nathan Allensen and Andrei Svechnikov had two assists each for the Colts. Nico Daws made 39 saves for Guelph.

In Owen Sound, Nick Suzuki had a goal and three assists as the Owen Sound Attack beat the Peterborough Petes 4-3. Kevin Hancock chipped in with two goals and an assist for Owen Sound. Pavel Gogolev scored twice for Peterborough.


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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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