Greyhounds rebound to open final weekend

After a poor outing on Wednesday night, the Soo Greyhounds were much better to open the final weekend of the Ontario Hockey League season on Friday.

Three goals in a span of just under four minutes in the third period lifted the Greyhounds to a 3-1 win over the Saginaw Spirit Friday at the Essar Centre as the team plays its final regular season games on home ice.

A solid start and a strong third period were key for the Greyhounds victory.

“The outcome was a lot closer than we’d like it to be but the guys deserved to win that hockey game in the end,” said Greyhounds Coach Drew Bannister.

“Mentally, (a tight game) was a good thing for the kids,” Bannister also said. “They stuck with it for the most part. There was a little bit of frustration in the second period. We didn’t get pucks to the net. We were cute in some situations. The first period I was happy with and most of the third. The guys competed hard and did the things they needed to do to win the hockey game.”

Bannister said the Greyhounds struggles in the second period were due to frustration due to the play of Saginaw netminder Brendan Bonello, who stopped 34 shots.

“We probably could have pulled away in the first period if it wasn’t for him,” Bannister said of Bonello.

“He played excellent for them and kept them in the game,” Bannister also said.

After Brady Gilmour scored off the opening faceoff of the third period to give Saginaw the lead, the Greyhounds scored three unanswered goals in the frame, all in the final five minutes of the contest.

Bobby MacIntyre tied the game at 15:32 with a power play marker on a cross-ice feed from Barrett Hayton. Jack Kopacka then gave the Greyhounds the lead, converting a feed from Blake Speers at 18:36. Tim Gettinger would seal the win with an empty net goal in the final minute of the game.

The win came on the heels of a disappointing loss to the Spirit in the first game of the home-and-home series on Wednesday night in Saginaw where the Spirit skated to a 2-1 victory at the Dow Event Center.

“I liked a lot of things that we did (Friday night) and it was certainly a better effort than Wednesday,” Bannister said.

The win improves the Greyhounds record to 47-16-3-1. The team is locked into the second seed in the OHL’s Western Conference as the West Division champion after the Erie Otters beat the Kitchener Rangers 3-2 Friday night to clinch the top seed in the conference.

Matthew Villalta made 27 saves for the Greyhounds.

Saginaw falls to 27-31-7-2 with the loss.

“They’re a special group of guys,” said Saginaw Associate Coach Chris Lazary, who handled the bench duties for Spencer Carbery, who was away at the OHL Cup scouting. “I wish we would have had a better start out of the gate this season because it would have been an exciting playoff team. We’re a young group and have a lot of character kids. Other teams in our position would probably fold with two games to go in the season. These guys played their hearts out.”

Lazary said the game was one that he was “really proud” of the Spirit effort despite the setback.

“We wanted to play four men up on the rush and make plays,” Lazary said. “We wanted to show that we could play with the big boys and make plays. We’re a talented group.”

The Greyhounds wrap up the regular season on Sunday afternoon in a 2 p.m. start at the Essar Centre against the London Knights.

Notes: On Thursday, the Ontario Hockey League announced the results of its annual Coaches Poll.

Forward Boris Katchouk was named the Western Conference’s best penalty killer.

Overage forward Bobby MacIntyre finished third in the most underrated player category while Conor Timmins was tied for second in the most improved player category. Captain Blake Speers was third in the smartest player category. Hayden Verbeek was second in the hardest worker category.

For the full results of the Coaches Poll, click here.

For full video highlights from the game, click here 

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OTHER SCORES

In Kingston, Jason Robertson and Linus Nyman had a goal and three assists each as the Kingston Frontenacs beat the Hamilton Bulldogs 5-3. Ted Nichol chipped in with two goals and an assist. Stephen Desrocher chipped in with a goal and an assist for Kingston. Eemeli Rasanen assisted on a pair of Kingston goals. Will Bitten scored a pair of goals for Hamilton. Matt Luff also scored for the Bulldogs, who got a 34-save performance from Dawson Carty.

In Mississauga, a three-goal third period was the difference as the Mississauga Steelheads beat the Barrie Colts 4-2. Michael McLeod scored a pair of goals for Mississauga while Trent Fox and Spencer Watson assisted on two goals each. Matthew Titus and Owen Tippett also scored for Mississauga. Zachary Magwood and Anthony Stefano scored for the Colts.

In Sudbury, Dmitry Sokolov scored three goals and assisted on another as the Sudbury Wolves beat the North Bay Battalion 5-2. Ryan Valentini chipped in with a goal and an assist while Patrick Sanvido also scored for the Wolves, who scored three times in the final period in the win. Chandler Yackimowicz assisted on a pair of Sudbury goals. North Bay netminder Julian Sime made 37 saves. Daniil Vertiy and Adam Thilander scored for the Battalion

In Guelph, James McEwen had a goal and an assist as the Guelph Storm doubled up the Sarnia Sting 4-2. Ryan Merkley assisted on a pair of Guelph goals. Isaac Ratcliffe, Albert Michnac and Garrett McFadden also scored for the Storm. Anthony Salinitri scored both Sarnia goals.

In Kitchener, Alex DeBrincat scored at 1:48 of overtime to give the Erie Otters a 3-2 win over the Kitchener Rangers. DeBrincat finished the night with a goal and an assist. Dylan Strome and Darren Raddysh assisted on a pair of Erie goals each. Kyle Pettit and Taylor Raddysh also scored. Connor Bunnaman scored both Kitchener goals.

In London, Tyler Parsons made 37 saves as the London Knights beat the Flint Firebirds 7-3. Max Jones had a pair of goals for the Knights. Adrian Carbonara added a goal and two assists while Liam Foudy had a goal and an assist for London. Janne Kuokkanen, Alex Formenton and Dante Salituro also scored for London. Cliff Pu assisted on three Knights goals. Mitchell Stephens also had two assists. Everett Clark had a goal and two assists for Flint. Fedor Gordeev had a goal and an assist for the Firebirds. Alex Peters had the other Flint goal. Kole Sherwood also had a multi-point night for Flint with two assists.