Greyhounds lose to Wolves in shootout (video added)

The Soo Greyhounds had an opportunity to put some distance between themselves and the Windsor Spitfires.

They did just that, only they didn’t put as much distance between the two clubs as they would have liked.

The Greyhounds dropped a 3-2 decision in a shootout to the Sudbury Wolves at the Steelback Centre on Tuesday night.

“We have some good hockey players that play the game the hard way, the right way,” said Hounds coach Denny Lambert. “I thought the guys were trying to be too fancy.”

Sault native Matt Dias opened the scoring for the Wolves near the midway point of the opening period when he redirected a pass from JK Gill past Greyhounds netminder Kyle Gajewski.

The lead held up until late in the period when James Livingston one-timed a feed from Brandon MacLean past Wolves goaltender Sebastian Dahm.

Brandon Biggers had a chance early in the second period to put the Greyhounds in the lead but he was stopped on a breakaway after coming out of the penalty box.

Arron Alphonso gave the Greyhounds the lead later in the period on a breakaway of his own.

Kevin Baker tied the game early in the third period when he tapped in a pass from John Kurtz.

When overtime solved nothing, the shootout was called and it was Jared Staal who became the hero for Sudbury when he scored on Sudbury’s third chance after Brandon MacLean and Baker traded goals on the first two shots.

Lambert was pleased with the play of his top line in the loss.

“Those guys come and prepare the right way every day,” Lambert said of the line of Matt Lyall, Brandon MacLean and James Livingston. “They try to do the right things every day. The way they come to the rink, they’re professional.”

Lambert also credited Matt Caria, playing his first game as a Greyhound after the trade that sent Jordan Mayer to Mississauga for the 19-year-old Sault native.

“I thought he was fine, especially for travelling,” Lambert said. “He got in late last night and all the other stuff around that and coming home. It’s not like he’s just going to another team, he’s coming home to his new team. I thought he did a good job.”

Despite the loss, the Greyhounds did manage to gain a point on the Windsor Spitfires and move two points ahead of their West Division rivals for top spot in the division.

The Greyhounds currently sit with a 25-10-1-2 record, good for 53 points.

The Spitfires sit two points behind the Greyhounds with a game in hand and a record of 22-8-4-3.

Next action for the Greyhounds is January 4 and 5 when they face the Plymouth Whalers and London Knights at the Steelback Centre.

Game time for both nights is 7:30 p.m.

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