Greyhounds lack 'motivation' in loss

The Soo Greyhounds will return home from a two-game road trip with a little adversity.

After a streak that saw the team go 29-0-0-1, the Greyhounds have lost two straight after dropping a 4-2 Ontario Hockey League decision to the Flint Firebirds on Saturday night at the Dort Federal Union Event Center.

The Firebirds scored three times in the second period en route to the victory.

Greyhounds Coach Drew Bannister said the hope was the team would use Friday’s loss in Sarnia as a motivator heading into Flint, but that wasn’t the case.

“As a coaching staff, we have to take a majority of the blame for that hockey game,” said Bannister. “It was a game that we went into and prepared the same way.”

“The way the game started, you could tell that we didn’t have that emotion in our game,” Bannister added. “It didn’t seem like the kids were very motivated to play today and that’s our fault. We have to do a better job of motivating the kids.”

Greyhounds captain Tim Gettinger called the loss “unacceptable and embarrassing.”

Bannister went on to say the weekend sweep on the road will be a learning experience for a team that is 37-5-2-1.

“We lost both games and we deserved to lose both games,” Bannister said.

“In failure, there are lessons to be learned,” Bannister added.

Firebirds Coach Ryan Oulahen called the win a “total team effort.”

“We had to have a good, sound hockey game and we did for the most part,” Oulahen said during the Firebirds radio post-game show. “They have a lot of belief in the way we want to play and the things we want to do. It was a total, team-first effort to get the victory.”

After outshooting the Greyhounds 14-2 in the second period and taking a 3-1 lead, the Firebirds killed off a lengthy 5-on-3 Greyhounds power play in the third period. The Greyhounds couldn’t capitalize on the advantage that lasted 1:40 and came after the Greyhounds cut the Firebirds lead to 3-2 with a goal early in the final stanza.

“We came out and pushed hard (in the third period) and we had an opportunity to tie it up but at the end of the day, we’ve got to learn that we can’t just play 20 minutes and expect to win a hockey game.”

“That was huge,” Oulahen said of the kill. “Once we got through that, the guys knew that this was a night to (win).”

Gettinger and Boris Katchouk completed the scoring for the Greyhounds.

Goaltender Matthew Villalta stopped 29 shots for the Greyhounds.

Garrett Forrest made 26 saves for the Firebirds and also earned the praise of his coach.

“That’s what you need from your goaltender,” Oulahen said. “You need your goalie to make a save and he did that for us tonight, which gave us confidence.”

Ty Dellandrea paced the Firebirds offensively with a pair of goals while defenceman Fedor Gordeev chipped in with a goal and an assist. Riley McCourt assisted on a pair of Flint goals and Connor Roberts also scored.

The victory improves Flint’s record to 13-26-3-1.

The Greyhounds now play five of their next six games at home beginning on Jan. 26 against the Windsor Spitfires. The game opens a three-game weekend that will see the team also host the Barrie Colts on Jan. 27 before facing the Saginaw Spirit in Saginaw on Jan. 28.

In other games around the OHL, in Ottawa, Will Bitten scored three times as the Hamilton Bulldogs beat the Ottawa 67’s 9-3. Brandon Saigeon chipped in with a goal and two assists while Robert Thomas also had three points for the Bulldogs with three assists. Arthur Kaliyev added a pair of goals for Hamilton.

In Peterborough, Matt Brassard had the shootout winner as the Oshawa Generals beat the Peterborough Petes 4-3. Oshawa goaltender Kyle Keyser made 37 saves and stopped all three Petes shooters in the shootout.

In Sudbury, Drake Pilon’s goal at 17:49 of the third period was the game-winner as the Sudbury Wolves beat the North Bay Battalion 2-1. Wolves goaltender Jake McGrath made 32 saves.

In Barrie, Dmitry Sokolov had two goals and two assists as the Barrie Colts beat the Niagara IceDogs 6-2. Aaron Luchuk and Lucas Chiodo chipped in with a goal and an assist each while Andrei Svechnikov set up a pair of Barrie goals.

In Owen Sound, Kevin Hancock had two goals and two assists as the Owen Sound Attack beat the Erie Otters 8-1. Nick Suzuki also had four points with a goal and three assists. Maksim Sushko chipped in with two goals and an assist for the Attack.