Greyhounds struggle in Flint (7 photos)

After a pair of overtime wins to open 2019, the Soo Greyhounds will return home following a disappointing finish to the first road trip of the new year for the club.

The Flint Firebirds opened up a 4-0 lead in what would eventually be a 6-4 Ontario Hockey League win over the Greyhounds at the Dort Federal Event Center in Flint.

Flint took a 3-0 lead in the first period and let 4-0 until the late stages of the second period when overage defenceman Jordan Sambrook got the Greyhounds on the board.

“I’m disappointed with the full game,” said Greyhounds Coach John Dean. “We had a little push-back. It’s a huge lesson for our guys. You can’t let the highs get too high. We were clearly reading the press clippings and thought a lot about ourselves unfortunately and got caught in the first period.”

“(The start) definitely hurt us quite a bit,” Sambrook said. “After a big two wins to start the weekend, we wanted to come out strong, but that wasn’t the case and it hurt us for the rest of the game.”

“It’s just not acceptable and we have to come out stronger,” Sambrook also said.

Dean called the first period “a really poor opening period.”

“It was one of our worst first periods,” Dean also said.

Decision-making, specifically early on, made life difficult for the Greyhounds.

“Losing sucks,” said Greyhounds overage defenceman Mac Hollowell.

“With the puck, we weren’t making good decisions,” Hollowell said about the opening period. “Then, trying to get the puck back, they were winning more battles than us.”

Flint scored three times on six power plays in the game.

Dean called the struggles on the penalty kill as a by-product of the way the team was playing overall.

“I don’t think it’s a special teams issue,” Dean said. “It comes down to the same things (at even strength), work ethic and being prepared mentally and understanding the magnitude of the two points. The lack of that reflected in the special teams.”

Hollowell, Ryan O’Rourke, and Ryan Roth also scored for the Greyhounds in addition to Sambrook’s goal. Jaden Peca assisted on a pair of goals.

Rookie Ethan Taylor got the start but was pulled after surrendering three goals on 13 shots in just over 15 minutes of work. Matthew Villalta entered the game and stopped 16 of 18 shots the rest of the way.

Defenceman Vladislav Kolyachonok had a goal and three assists for Flint.

“He’s a special player,” Flint Coach Erie Wellwood said on the Firebirds radio broadcast. “Not only is he a fantastic hockey player but he’s a real stand-up kid. He’s only 17 but he’s extremely mature for his age.”

Ty Dellandrea assisted on four Flint goals while linemate Jake Durham had two goals and an assist.

Eric Uba had a goal and an assist. Riley McCourt and Michael Bianconi also scored for the Firebirds.

Goaltender Luke Cavallin made 36 saves.

Wellwood called the third period a learning experience for his club after the Greyhounds outshot the home team 18-6 and scored three times.

“Our first and second periods were outstanding,” Wellwood said. “It’s not the way we want to end the game, but we’re still learning how to play with a lead and win hockey games.”

The Greyhounds will carry a 24-10-4-1 record into a three-game homestand that begins Wednesday night against the Sarnia Sting. Puck drop at the GFL Memorial Gardens is set for 7:07 p.m.

Flint improves to 7-32-2-0 with the win.

With the trade deadline approaching, Saturday was a busy day around the league with four deals being completed.

The Guelph Storm had a busy day, completing a pair of deals and acquiring a pair of defencemen in the process.

The Storm acquired Fedor Gordeev from Flint in exchange for a second round pick in 2021 (originally Mississauga’s), a second round pick in 2024, a conditional third round pick in 2022 (originally Sudbury’s), and a conditional fifth round pick in 2022.

The Storm also acquired Markus Phillips from the Owen Sound Attack. In exchange for the member of the Canadian National Junior Team, the Storm sent a second round pick in 2019 (originally Peterborough’s), a second round pick in 2020 (originally Mississauga’s), a third round pick in 2021 (originally Erie’s), a second round pick in 2022 (originally North Bay’s), a third round pick in 2024 and a conditional fourth round pick in 2023 to Owen Sound.

After acquiring Ryan McLeod from the Mississauga Steelheads on Friday, the Saginaw Spirit completed a second deal with Mississauga on Saturday and acquired Owen Tippett, who also played in the recently-completed World Junior Tournament with Team Canada.

Saginaw sent Aidan Prueter, a third round pick in 2019, a seventh round pick in 2019, a second round pick in 2020 (originally Barrie’s), a third round pick in 2020, a seventh round pick in 2020, and a second round pick in 2021 (originally Sudbury’s) to Mississauga.

Saturday’s other deal saw the Oshawa Generals acquire Brett Neumann from the Kingston Frontenacs in exchange for Nick Wong, a third round pick in 2019 (originally Kingston’s), a second round pick in 2021 (originally Kingston’s), and a conditional second round pick in 2024 (originally Windsor’s).

In other action on Sunday around the league, in Guelph, Brandon Coe had two goals and an assist as the North Bay Battalion beat the Guelph Storm 5-2. Mason Primeau chipped in with a goal and an assist while Braden Henderson and Brad Chenier assisted on two goals each for North Bay.

In Hamilton, Ben Jones had the shootout winner as the Niagara IceDogs beat the Hamilton Bulldogs 6-5. Jones had a goal and two assists while Philip Tomasino scored a pair of goals for Niagara. Arthur Kaliyev had two goals and two assists for Hamilton. Matthew Strome added two goals and an assist for the Bulldogs.

In Kingston, Jacob Tortora’s goal at 19:03 of the third period was the game-winner as the Barrie Colts beat the Kingston Frontenacs 3-2. Matej Pekar had a goal and two assists for Barrie. Jet Greaves made 42 saves for the Colts.

In Mississauga, Christopher Paquette and Bracy Hinz had two goals each as the Peterborough Petes beat the Mississauga Steelheads 7-4. Hunter Jones made 42 saves for Peterborough.

In Ottawa, Austen Keating had two goals and two assists as the Ottawa 67s beat the Oshawa Generals 7-4. Tye Felhaber also had four points for Ottawa with a goal and three assists. Jack Quinn chipped in with a pair of goals. Allan McShane scored twice for Oshawa.

In Windsor, seven different players had goals as the Windsor Spitfires beat the Kitchener Rangers 7-1. Jean-Luc Foudy, Luke Boka, Nathan Staios, Mathew MacDougall and Tyler Angle had a goal and an assist each for Windsor.

In Erie, Kyle Maksimovich scored with one second to go in overtime as the Erie Otters beat the Sarnia Sting 4-3. Maksimovich had a pair of goals in the win. Gera Poddubnyi assisted on a pair of Erie goals.

In Saginaw, Ivan Prosvetov made 54 saves as the Saginaw Spirit blanked the Sudbury Wolves 2-0. Ryan McLeod scored his first goal as a member of the Spirit in the win after being acquired by the team on Friday from Mississauga