Greyhounds open playoffs in Sarnia

The Ontario Hockey League playoffs opened in a way that’s familiar for the Soo Greyhounds this season.

After winning 19 games away from home in the regular season, the Greyhounds went on the road and opened its Western Conference quarter-final series against the Sarnia Sting with a 6-3 victory.

The Sting opened the game with a pair of power play goals on both ends of a penalty to Gustav Bouramman in the opening minutes of the game. Travis Konecny and Kevin Spinozzi scored 28 seconds apart on both ends of a double-minor to Bouramman to take a 2-0 lead five minutes into the game.

“It’s been proven before, the character of the kids we have in the dressing room,” said Greyhounds Coach Drew Bannister. “I’m not surprised at all by the response. It was early in the hockey game and five-on-five early on, we were playing good hockey. Disciplined-wise we had to be better, but five-on-five we were able to work ourselves back into the hockey game and give ourselves a chance to win.”

Hayden Verbeek would get the Greyhounds on the board midway through the opening period, which led to the Greyhounds scoring six of the next seven goals in the game, including four goals in the second period.

“It put us back in the game,” Bannister said. “We started to build our confidence back. We knew if we kept with it, we would get opportunities. We got some bounces but we were opportunistic in the chances that we had.”

“Confidence is huge and we started to realize what we could do on the ice,” Greyhounds forward Zach Senyshyn told TVCogeco of the time after the Verbeek goal. “We’ve got a real young team and it just took a while to get our feet under us.”

Gabe Guertler led the Greyhounds with a pair of goals, which included the eventual game-winner. Verbeek and Blake Speers would finish the night with a goal and an assist each while Senyshyn, Bouramman and Tyler Hore would also pick up two assists each.

Bobby MacIntyre and Boris Katchouk also had goals for the Greyhounds.

Goaltender Brandon Halverson stopped 33 shots.

The Sting scored all three of its goals on the power play, going 3-for-5 on the night.

“That’s been the story of our season, whenever we’re going five-on-five, we’re a tough team to handle,” Bannister said. “The one thing we’ve got to clean up (against Sarnia) is our discipline. We can’t continuously go to the penalty box against a highly-skilled team.”

Konecny had a goal and an assist for Sarnia while Matt Mistele had the other Sting goal. Pavel Zacha assisted on two goals.

Charlie Graham made 25 saves for Sarnia.

Game two is Sunday afternoon in Sarnia. Puck drop is set for 4:05 p.m.

The series then shifts to Sault Ste. Marie for games three and four on Tuesday and Thursday nights.

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OTHER SCORES

Thursday

In Kitchener, Brandon Robinson’s goal at 2:39 of the first overtime period lifted the Kitchener Rangers to a series-opening 6-5 win over the Windsor Spitfires. Robinson had two goals and an assist for the Rangers, as did Ryan MacInnis. Jeremy Bracco assisted on three Kitchener goals. Adam Mascherin had a goal and an assist while Gustaf Franzen also scored for Kitchener. Bradley Latour had a goal and an assist for Windsor while Logan Stanley, Christian Fischer, Jalen Chatfield and Aaron Luchuk also scored.

In St. Catharines, Vince Dunn scored a power play goal at 1:05 of the third period to lift the Niagara IceDogs to a series-opening 5-4 win over the Ottawa 67’s. Dunn had a goal and an assist while Pavel Jenys, William Lochead, Graham Knott and Anthony DiFruscia also scored. Josh Ho-Sang assisted on three Niagara goals. Jeremiah Addison and Nathan Todd had a goal and two assists each for Ottawa. Travis Barron had a goal and an assist while Artur Tyanulin assisted on two goals for Ottawa, Dante Salituro had the other Ottawa goal.

Friday

In Kingston, Jeremy Helvig made 18 saves as the Kingston Frontenacs blanked the Oshawa Generals 6-0. The Frontenacs open a 1-0 series lead in the process. Roland McKeown had two goals and an assist to pace the Frontenacs offensively. Lawson Crouse also had a three-point night with a goal and two assists. Spencer Watson and Warren Foegele had a goal and an assist each for Kingston. Jared Steege had the other Kingston goal. Jeremy Brodeur got the start for Oshawa, stopping 27 shots before being pulled after the fifth Kingston goal. Justin Nichols played the final 18 minutes of the contest, stopping eight of nine shots.

In North Bay, Brett Hargrave’s goal at 7:09 of the third period was the game-winner as the North Bay Battalion beat the Peterborough Petes 2-1 to take a 1-0 lead in its Eastern Conference quarter-final series. Mike Amadio had the other North Bay goal while Logan DeNoble had the lone Petes goal. Matthew Mancina made 30 saves for Peterborough.

In Erie, Kyle Pettit had a pair of goals as the Erie Otters beat the Saginaw Spirit 5-1. Nick Betz and Travis Dermott chipped in with a goal and two assists each as the Otters opened the best-of-seven series with a victory. Kyle Maksimovich had the other Erie goal. Jake Marchment also had two assists. Jesse Barwell had the lone goal for Saginaw.

In London, Max Jones had a goal and an assist as the London Knights took a 1-0 series lead with a 4-1 victory over the Owen Sound Attack. Cliff Pu, Aaron Berisha and Mitch Marner also scored for the Knights. Petrus Palmu had the lone Owen Sound goal.