Greyhounds overcome hurdle against Mississauga

There was a certain sense of relief when it was all over.

Having lost seven in a row entering the game, the Soo Greyhounds picked up a 4-0 Ontario Hockey League win over the Mississauga Steelheads on Friday night at the Paramount Fine Foods Centre in Mississauga.

The win came on the heels of a tough loss on Thursday night that saw the team give up three goals in the final 2:41 of regulation time in a 4-2 loss against the Erie Otters.

“It felt really good,” defenceman Caeden Carlisle said shortly after Friday’s win. “We’ve been knocking at the door for a win for a while. To finally get it tonight felt really good as a team.”

“It was a team result for sure,” added goaltender Charlie Schenkel.

Asked about the players mood following the win in the dressing room, Greyhounds coach John Dean said, “there was a bit of they let their shoulders down and relaxed a little bit.”

Dean also said he was pleased with the response from his team after Thursday’s loss.

“Every single guy from our goaltender out showed a ton of character after a very tough loss last night,” Dean said. “They were disappointed in each other last night and they wanted to prove, more than anything, that they were willing to fight for one another and they did that tonight.”

Dean called Friday “just a real good team road win after a tough game last night.”

With just under four minutes to go and the Greyhounds up by three, Mississauga pulled goaltender Ryerson Leenders for an extra attacker. In a situation that has been tough for the Greyhounds when it comes to closing games out, Dean called the last few minutes somewhat of a milestone for the team

“You have to get milestones over the course of the season and that’s a milestone for us is taking care of business and closing out a game,” Dean said. “It’s about jumping over that hurdle.”

Schenkel added that the focus late in the game was less on the time remaining and more on getting the job done.

“It’s like the boys came together and played a really united game,” Schenkel said. “We just kept hammering the nail and played a great overall team game. I feel like we didn’t pay too much attention to the clock and just did what we were capable of doing.”

After a scoreless opening period, Greyhounds defenceman Caeden Carlisle broke the scoreless tie 7:33 into the second period.

After Justin Cloutier hit the post moments earlier, Carlisle went to the net and redirected a pass from Tyler Savard in the right circle past Mississauga goaltender Ryerson Leenders.

Just under four minutes later, the Greyhounds took a 2-0 lead thanks to a power play goal from Bryce McConnell-Barker. Near the side of the goal, McConnell-Barker jumped on a loose puck and beat Leenders after Savard tried to hit Kalvyn Watson with a pass on the other side of the goal and if deflected to the Greyhounds captain.

Landen Hookey extended the Greyhounds lead to 3-0 just 87 seconds into the third period. The sophomore forward spun and beat Leenders with a shot stick side from the slot for his second goal of the season.

McConnell-Barker capped off the scoring for the Greyhounds by scoring into an empty net with 1:12 to go.

Carlisle paced the Greyhounds offensively with a goal and two assists while Savard also had a pair of assists to go along with the two-goal night from McConnell-Barker.

Schenkel made 35 saves for the shutout.

Leenders stopped 18 shots for Mississauga.

With the win, the Greyhounds improve to 6-9-4-4 and sit three points ahead of the Guelph Storm and two points behind the Otters in a battle for positioning in the OHL’s Western Conference.

After a day off on Saturday, the Greyhounds will wrap up the road trip on Sunday afternoon in Hamilton against the Bulldogs.

Mississauga falls to 11-7-3-0 with Friday’s loss.