Greyhounds narrowly avoid road loss

They rebounded, but it wasn’t easy.

After a third-period collapse that led to a shootout loss on Wednesday night, the Soo Greyhounds held on for a 5-4 win over the Flint Firebirds at the Dort Federal Event Center in Flint on Friday night in Ontario Hockey League action.

The Firebirds eased a 4-1 Greyhounds lead Wednesday night to win in a shootout and nearly erased a Greyhounds lead again on Friday night. The Greyhounds led 4-1 at the start of the third period and erased a 5-2 deficit to make the game close.

“Let’s give them a little bit of credit here, they’re a pretty good hockey club,” said Greyhounds Coach Drew Bannister of the Firebirds.

“I’m certainly not pleased,” Bannister would also say. “There are little things in our game that could have alleviated a lot of our issues. Probably the game shouldn’t have been as close as it was.”

Jack Kopacka, a native of nearby Metamora, Mich., scored three times to pace the Greyhounds offensively. The sophomore forward had 20-30 family members and friends in attendance at the game.

“It’s nice to come home and be able to help the team,” Kopacka said. “It’s exciting because some of them haven’t seen me play before and it’s nice to be able to contribute to the team this well.

“Jack played really well and scored some nice goals,” Bannister said.

Zach Senyshyn had a goal and an assist for the Greyhounds, who improve to 32-10-2-1. Blake Speers had the other goal. Defenceman Connor Timmins set up a pair of goals.

“It’s kind of a common trend,” Senyshyn said of the Greyhounds letting leads slip away. “Against better teams it’s realty going to come back to bite us.”

Rookie Matthew Villalta got the start for the Greyhounds. Internet issues at the arena left the online scoresheet incomplete following the game, which included no shot totals for either team.

Bannister said he plans to go with Joseph Raaymakers as the Greyhounds travel to Sarnia on Saturday afternoon to take on the Sting in a 3:30 p.m. start.

Caamano and Moore had two goals each for the Firebirds, who fall to 21-19-1-3. Jalen Smereck assisted on two goals for the Firebirds. Flint goaltender Connor Hicks was on the hook for all five Greyhounds goals.

With an assist in the third period, Flint’s Kole Sherwood extended his point streak to 10 games.

Game Notes: Sherwood would get a match penalty following the game after he cross-checked Greyhounds defenceman Colton White following the final buzzer, breaking his stick in the process.

“There was some stuff that went on that shouldn’t be tolerated at all in our league,” Bannister said of the incident, calling it “predatory” as well.

Bannister said Sherwood also shot a puck at Blake Speers after the final buzzer.

*****

OTHER SCORES

In Kingston, Jason Robertson’s power play goal at 9:43 of the third period was the game-winner as the Kingston Frontenacs beat the Oshawa Generals 5-4. Robertson finished the night with two goals and an assist. Stephen Desrocher assisted on three goals for Kingston. Nathan Dunkley, Justin Pringle and Linus Nyman also scored for the Frontenacs. Matt Brassard scored a pair of goals while Allan McShane added a goal and an assist for Oshawa. Medric Mercier also scored for the Generals.

In Sudbury, Hayden Hodgson had a pair of goals as the Saginaw Spirit doubled up the Sudbury Wolves 6-3. Brady Gilmour added a goal and two assists for the Spirit. Filip Hronek chipped in with a goal and an assist. Damian Giroux and Cole Coskey also scored for Saginaw. Marcus Crawford assisted on three Saginaw goals. Alan Lyszczarczyk, Owen Lane and David Levin scored for Sudbury.

In Sarnia, Alex DeBrincat had a pair of goals as the Erie Otters beat the Sarnia Sting 8-2. Kyle Maksimovich, Jordan Sambrook and Gera Poddubnyi added a goal and an assist each for Erie. Christian Girhiny, Kyle Pettit and Owen Headrick also scored for Erie. For Headrick, it was the Garden River product’s first OHL goal in his first game with the team since announcing his decision to leave Lake Superior State earlier this week. Taylor Raddysh assisted on a pair of goals for the Otters. Jordan Kyrou and Jaden Lindo scored for Sarnia.

In Hamilton, Matthew Strome scored three goals as the Hamilton Bulldogs doubled up the Barrie Colts 4-2. Will Bitten added a goal and two assists for Hamilton. Michael Cramarossa assisted on a pair of Bulldogs goals. Jason Willms and Curtis Douglas scored for Barrie.

In Kitchener, Kyle Rhodes’ goal at 16:26 of the third period held up as the winner as the Guelph Storm held on for a 3-2 win over the Kitchener Rangers. The Rangers scored a pair of second period goals after falling behind 3-0 through 20 minutes. Goaltender Liam Herbst made 32 saves for the Storm. Givani Smith and Luke Burghardt had the other Guelph goals. Greg Meireles and Elijah Roberts scored for Kitchener.

In London, Dante Salituro had two goals and an assist as the London Knights beat the Ottawa 67’s 7-2. Mitchell Stephens, Mitch Vande Sompel, Sam Miletic and Brandon Crawley chipped in with a goal and an assist each for the Knights. Evan Bouchard had the other London goal. Janne Kuokkanen assisted on three Knights goals. London goaltender Tyler Parsons made 34 saves. Austen Keating and Kody Clark scored for Ottawa.