Skip to content

Greyhounds ride fast start

Four goals in five minutes helped pace the Soo Greyhounds on Sunday night
2018-01-28 Greyhounds at Saginaw NS
Photo courtesy Natalie Shaver/OHLPucks

Winmar-Sponsor_2 (1)

Scoring four goals in just over five minutes would eventually be the difference.

An explosive start offensively lifted the Soo Greyhounds to a 5-2 Ontario Hockey League victory over the Saginaw Spirit on Sunday evening at the Dow Event Center in Saginaw.

The Greyhounds took a 4-1 lead through the opening 5:03 of the contest to help the team cap off a three-win weekend in the process.

“That’s tough when a team gives up that many goals against us early on to work themselves back into it,” said Greyhounds Coach Drew Bannister. “Saginaw has come back on good teams before and they continued to work hard. For us it was a good road game.”

The Greyhounds jumped out to a 3-0 lead thanks to goals by Tim Gettinger, Morgan Frost and Hayden Verbeek 3:14 apart. Jake Goldowski would get Saginaw on the board by scoring on a penalty shot to make it 3-1 but Ryan Roth would score 14 seconds later to make it 4-1.

“We had a pretty bad four minutes there because we didn’t start on time and pretty much had to play catch-up after that,” Spirit Coach Troy Smith said on the Spirit television broadcast. “I can’t be disappointed with the effort. At 3-0 and even at 4-1, it would have been really easy to quit.”

Taylor Raddysh sealed the win for the Greyhounds with an empty net goal in the final seconds of the game. Raddysh also assisted on a pair of goals.

Goldowski scored both goals for the Spirit. Cameron Lamour got the start for the Spirit in goal but was pulled after surrendering three goals on five shots to start the game. Evan Cormier came in and stopped 18 shots the rest of the way for Saginaw.

Making his third start in three days, Matthew Villalta made 43 saves for the Greyhounds.

Overage forward Hayden Verbeek said that, despite being outshot 43-25, the totals weren’t indicative of the play after the Greyhounds took the lead.

“We gave up a lot of shots but I don’t think it was as bad as the shot clock had it,” Verbeek said. “We battled and kept things to the perimeter. I don’t think we gave up too many quality (chances).”

Greyhounds defenceman Rasmus Sandin left the game in the first period after being hit by Spirit forward Ryan Stepien. The Swedish blueliner was cut and left the game and did not return. Bannister said following the game, the severity of Sandin’s injury wasn’t known and would be clearer after the defenceman saw a doctor on Monday.

Stepien was handed a major penalty on the play for checking to the head and a game misconduct.

The Greyhounds, who return to action on Wednesday night at home against the Sudbury Wolves, improve to 40-5-2-1, tops in the OHL.

Saginaw, battling Windsor and Guelph for positioning in the OHL’s Western Conference, drop to 24-19-4-0. The team sits ties with the Guelph Storm for fifth in the conference, two points ahead of Windsor.

The game against Sudbury opens a three-game homestand that will see the team face the Spirit on Friday night and the Erie Otters next Sunday afternoon.

In other action around the OHL on Sunday, in North Bay, Brandon Coe had the shootout winner as the North Bay Battalion beat the Niagara IceDogs 4-3. Battalion goaltender Christian Propp stopped 41 shots and turned aside seven of Niagara’s eight shooters in the shootout.

In London, Ryan Merkley’s goal at 1:22 of the second period was the eventual game-winner as the Guelph Storm beat the London Knights 3-2. Merkley finished the day with a goal and two assists. Liam Hawel added a goal and an assist for the Storm while Cam Hillis set up a pair of goals.

In Mississauga, Trent Fox scored a pair of goals as the Mississauga Steelheads beat the Sudbury Wolves 4-1. Nicolas Hague chipped in with a goal and two assists for the Steelheads.

In Flint, C.J. Clarke had a goal and an assist as the Flint Firebirds doubled up the Windsor Spitfires 4-2. Maurizio Colella assisted on a pair of goals for Flint.

In Kingston, Jeremy Helvig made 28 saves as the Kingston Frontenacs blanked the Peterborough Petes 2-0. Gabriel Vilardi had a goal and an assist for Kingston. Dylan Wells made 33 saves for the Petes.

In Oshawa, Matt Brassard scored 13 seconds into overtime to give the Oshawa Generals a 4-3 win over the Ottawa 67’s. Brassard, Kenny Huether, Nick Wong and Serron Noel had a goal and an assist each for Oshawa.

In Hamilton, Adam Ruzicka had two goals and an assist as the Sarnia Sting beat the Hamilton Bulldogs 4-2. Justin Fazio made 39 saves for Sarnia. Jordan Kyrou added a goal and an assist for the Sting while defenceman Cam Dineen assisted on a pair of goals.


What's next?


If you would like to apply to become a Verified reader Verified Commenter, please fill out this form.




Brad Coccimiglio

About the Author: Brad Coccimiglio

A graduate of Loyalist College’s Sports Journalism program, Brad Coccimiglio’s work has appeared in The Hockey News as well as online at FoxSports.com in addition to regular freelance work with SooToday before joining the team full time.
Read more