Hounds open pre-season with victory

The Soo Greyhounds opened their Ontario Hockey League exhibition schedule in fine fashion on Friday night as they chalked up a 4-1 victory over the visiting Saginaw Spirit.

Opening up a 3-0 lead before the first period was half over, the Greyhounds took advantage of an undisciplined Spirit squad as they scored four times with the man-advantage.

In that opening period, the Hounds came out of the gate flying. Just four seconds into the game, the Spirit got behind the eight-ball as Sault native Zac Torquato was nabbed for hooking by referee Mike Pearce just four seconds into the game.

On the ensuing power play, Tyler Kennedy, who had a strong game, banged home a rebound off a Jacob King miss to put the Greyhounds ahead.

Not long after the Kennedy goal, rookie defenceman Brett Halstead, another player who had a strong night, fired a point shot past screened Saginaw goaltender Ryan Daniels, also on the power play.

A power play goal at 7:03 by Brandon MacLean put the Hounds ahead by a field goal. Anthony Soboczynski got the Spirit on the board at 10:10, but that was all the offence they could muster up for the night.

In the third period, with the Hounds enjoying a two-man advantage, Tyson Aitcheson scored at 12:05 to cap off the scoring in a 4-1 Hounds win. Aitcheson had a goal and a pair of assists in the victory, a game in which they outshot Saginaw 37-15.

Hounds coach Craig Hartsburg was pleased with the outcome of the game, although he was quick to caution that wins and losses are not always the most important thing during the pre-season.

"I think it's a feeling out period for the players," said Hartsburg. "We do have a lot of new players here. All-in-all I think it was a decent start for us. We're not trying to judge it in wins and losses, we're trying to execute certain things."

Hartsburg also went on to talk about the Hounds power play, which looked solid at times.

"I thought early we were good," Hartsburg said of his team's power play. "We were simple, we were moving the puck and then it almost like the more power plays you get, you try to do too much. We haven't worked on it a whole lot.

"It's going to be like that (with a lot of penalties) until the players adjust to that," Hartsburg added. "This is a change that our game has to go through. It may be frusterating. You saw some things tonight skill-wise that you never saw all year."

Hartsburg was pleased with a number of players, two in particular, with one being rookie defenseman Brett Halstead and the other being newly named team captain Tyler Kennedy. The Hounds bench boss commented that, although he still has some work to do defensively, he is a great offensive player.

"He's really good on the power play and he's very smart," Hartsburg said of the young blueliner. "We just have to keep working on his defensive part of the game. Tyler was Tyler," Hartsburg said of his captain. "We decided he's the type of player we want to lead us."

Hartsburg added that the team also named four assistant captains. Veterans Kyle Wharton, Brad Good, Cody Thornton and Andrew Desjardins will serve as assistant captains on a rotational basis. Two will serve at home while the other pair will serve on the road.

The Hounds and Spirit don't have long to rest up as the two teams meet up again tonight in Saginaw. After a road date next Friday in Sudbury, the Greyhounds and Wolves will do it all over again at Memorial Gardens one week from Sunday in the final pre-season tune up for the Hounds. Game time is 7 p.m.