Hounds cling to playoff spot with another win over Spirit

The Windsor Spitfires are not making life easy for the Soo Greyhounds.

The Hounds and Spitfires have been in a dog fight for the final playoff spot in the Ontario Hockey League's Western Conference and nothing has been decided heading into the final game of the season.

The Greyhounds did their part on Friday by knocking off the Saginaw Spirit 4-1 at Memorial Gardens, but the Spits, who were sitting one point behind the Hounds heading into their game against Erie, managed to squeak out a 4-3 win over the Otters to keep pace with the Hounds.

The Hounds opened the scoring early as Jeff Carter, who was named the game's first star, picked off a clearing pass and fired a shot past Saginaw goaltender Mike Brown.

Near the end of the period, Reg Thomas added to the lead with another power play goal as he backhanded a rebound off an Aaron Lewicki shot past Brown to send the game into the first intermission with the Hounds leading 2-0.

In the second period, the Hounds opened up a three goal lead as Carter picked up his second goal of the night just under five minutes in to gave the Hounds a cushion heading into the final frame.

The Spirit cut into the Hounds lead midway through the third period as Nick Lees broke the shutout bid of Hounds netminder Kevin Druce. Tyler Kennedy capped off the scoring with six seconds left in the game to make the final 4-1.

Hounds coach Marty Abrams was pleased with the game and added that the way his team played against Saginaw is a style that is tough to beat.

"We played great tonight," Abrams said. "You can't ask anything more of our guys. I thought our defence was outstanding. It's nice to see the things we work on in practice translate into games. In the second intermission we (Abrams and assistant coach Denny Lambert) told them that 'if you play the way you did tonight, you're gonna be tough to beat. We've done our part and we just need to do our part."

Abrams added that even though Windsor is only a point behind the Hounds for the final playoff spot, they still have to beat Plymouth in Plymouth on Sunday afternoon

"Windsor's got to beat Plymouth who's playing their third game in three nights on Sunday," Abrams said, "but we've got to do our job against London, who's also playing their third game in three nights."

London will be coming into Sunday's contest at Memorial Gardens with an opportunity to set a new OHL record. Should they beat Saginaw on Saturday, they will be looking to top the 1984-85 Soo Greyhounds record of 109 points in a season. The Knights, after knocking off Sarnia on Friday have 106.

Abrams, who was a member of that 84-85 Greyhound team, said that the players have a sense of pride about that record being members of the Hounds and they don't want to be the ones who give up the record, but they are also focussed on securing that final playoff spot.

To lock down that spot, the Greyhounds need a win over London or a Windsor loss.

If the Greyhounds take a point from the Knights and Windsor beats Plymouth, it would set up a one-game playoff to determine the playoff bound team in Sault Ste. Marie on Tuesday night.

A Windsor win and a Hounds loss would send Windsor into the playoffs.

In other OHL action on Friday night Windsor, as mentioned, knocked off Erie 4-3 in Erie. David Lomas and Darryl Lloyd led the way for Windsor with a goal and an assist each. David Bowman chipped in with two assists.

London goaltender Gerald Coleman stopped 25 shots and Rob Shremp scored a goal and picked up an assist as the Knights beat Sarnia 3-0. Scott Sheppard added two assists. A three point performance from Mike Richards paced the Kitchener Rangers to a 3-1 win over the Plymouth Whalers. Adam Keefe added two assists for the winners.

Andre Deveaux scored two goals as the Owen Sound Attack beat the Guelph Storm 4-1 in Guelph while the Sudbury Wolves got goals from five different players en route to a 5-1 victory over the Belleville Bulls.

Adam Henrich scored a goal and added an assist as Brampton beat Mississauga 5-2 while Justin Peters stopped 19 shots and Dustin Van Ballegooie chipped in with a goal and an assist as Toronto blanked Peterborough 4-0. A four goal second period, including a hat trick by Corey Locke, who also picked up an assist, led the Ottawa 67's to a 5-4 win over the Barrie Colts.

In Oshawa, Tyler Donati picked up two goals and three assists while Ben Eager added three goals and two assists to pace the Oshawa Generals to a 6-3 win over the Kingston Frontenacs. Eric Himelfarb scored two goals in a losing effort.

*** OHL COACHES POLL:

The Ontario Hockey League released the results of their annual Coaches Poll on Friday afternoon and Jeff Carter's name was prominent on the list.

Carter was voted as the smartest player in the Western Conference and finished second in voting to Corey Perry of the London Knights in both the Most Dangerous in the Goal Area and Best Stickhandler categories.

Other Greyhounds on the list included Scott Dobben, who finished tied for third with Matt Ryan of Guelph in the fastest skater category. Tyler Kennedy finished third in voting for the Most Improved Player.

Coaches voted for each category within their own conference and were not permitted to vote for players on their own team.

The poll allows coaches and managers the opportunity to recognize players in a number of skill categories in each conference.