Hounds drop their 12th one-goal game (7 photos)

It has gotten to be a trademark for the Soo Greyhounds this season, but not a good one. On Wednesday night at Memorial Gardens, the Greyhounds dropped a 6-5 decision to the Saginaw Spirit, a loss which marked the Hounds 12th one-goal loss of the season.

The Greyhounds took an early lead when Cody Thornton scored on the power play at 1:08 of the opening period. Ryan Kitchen then put the Greyhounds up by a pair of goals when he scored another power play marker at 11:54.

Patrick Asselin pulled the Spirit back to within one goal when he beat Hounds goaltender Kyle Gajewski with just 1:10 left in the opening period.

The Asselin goal lifted Saginaw as they scored three times in just over four minutes to take a 4-2 lead. Chris Chappell scored at 9:04 to pull the Spirit even. Michal Birner scored just 1:06 later to give the visitors the lead and Sault native Zack Torquato increased the lead to two goals at 13:19.

Scott Restoule pulled the Greyhounds to within one goal at 14:35 when he potted his seventh goal of the season.

An early third period goal by Asselin restored the two goal lead before Tom Pyatt gave the Spirit a 6-3 lead with a goal at 12:35 of the third on the power play.

In the late stages of the game, the Hounds vehemently worked to tie the game. The locals pulled close as Kyle Wharton scored a power play marker at 15:56, and then Jason Pitton scored another power play goal at 18:52 to pull the Greyhounds to within one but it wasn’t enough.

“We have to compete hard, we have to outwork people, we have to be strong on the puck, and we have to do it for sixty minutes,” said Hounds coach Craig Hartsburg. “As soon as we start to get soft, especially in our end, that’s the difference.

“We probably have about four or five guys that consitently finish checks,” Hartsburg continued. “Guys like Jacob King, he’ll finish every check. Cody Thornton will finish his checks. There’s not enough guys that want to get their nose dirty, that’s the bottom line. We don’t have enough skill to play a nice and easy game. We’re trying to get guys to do things they don’t like to do and it’s a battle.”

The Hounds, who fall to 9-19-2-0 with the loss, host the nationally-ranked Peterborough Petes on Friday evening in a 7:30 p.m. start at Memorial Gardens, which will be their last game with Hartsburg behind the bench before he departs for the World Junior Tournament on Sunday.

“This game had about three different games in it,” said Hartsburg. “It started out, we looked like we were angry and then it’s like it’s too hard. Then we get angry again when we get a little sniff at the end. I don’t know if there’s a word to describe it.”

With the loss now behind them, the Hounds look ahead to the Petes, who entered this weekend in the midst of a three-game losing streak heading into a game at home against Ottawa on Thursday night.

*** AROUND THE OHL:

AT KITCHENER: Dan Turple stopped 36 shots as the Kitchener Rangers squeezed out a 3-2 victory over the London Knights. Victor Oreskovich scored the winner with 25 seconds left in the third period. Rob Schremp had a pair of goals in the loss.

AT BELLEVILLE: Andrew Gibbons and John Hughes each had two goals and two assists as the Belleville Bulls defeated the Oshawa Generals 7-4. Matt Beleskey had a goal and three assists in the win. Kelly Thomson had two goals for the Generals.

AT ERIE: Vince Scott scored the lone goal in a shootout as the Erie Otters defeated the Owen Sound Attack 4-3. Ryan O’Marra scored a pair of goals for the Otters while Josh Disher stopped 40 shots in the Erie goal.