Hounds open trip with win

PETERBOROUGH – The Soo Greyhounds received some good news prior to their game against the Peterborough Petes on Thursday.

The Greyhounds managed to have the transfer agreement for Import forward Jiri Tlusty finalized earlier in the day. That meant another scoring forward would be in the lineup against the Petes later that evening.

With Tlusty in the lineup, the Greyhounds came away with a 3-0 victory over the defending OHL Champions. Tlusty made an immediate impact scoring an insurance goal in the third period, putting the Greyhounds up by three in the middle stages of the period.

Tlusty, who played on a line with David Kuchejda and Andrew Desjardins, adds another dimension to the Hounds offense. In need of another offensive weapon, the Greyhounds received the good news earlier in the week, though it was unclear if he would have his paperwork done in time for the game in Peterborough.

Greyhounds coach Craig Hartsburg was pleased with his play in the game and noted that once the Czech forward gets comfortable with his surroundings, he will be a real asset.

“He’s certainly a very talented player,” said Hartsburg. “Once he gets comfortable playing here I think we’ll see some pretty neat things from him. He’s going to really help us.”

Brandon MacLean had a goal and an assist while Dustin Jeffrey scored the other Greyhounds goal. Jeffrey’s goal gives him 14 through 14 games and the league lead in that category.

The Greyhounds got off to a strong start outshooting the Petes 19-5 in the opening period and building a 2-0 lead when MacLean and Jeffrey scored 23 seconds apart midway through the period.

“We played pretty solid,” Hartsburg said. “I don’t think we played a whole 60 minutes but it was a pretty solid effort from everybody. It’s a step-by-step process. We’ve had some ups and downs. It’s just part of the deal in this league and you just have to keep going ahead.”

The Petes played the game minus forward Steve Downie, who was serving the first game of a two-game suspension. The Petes did have veteran Justin Caruana return to the lineup. Caruana has been injured early on this season and Thursday was his first game of the season.

Kyle Gajewski got the shutout, stopping 15 Petes shots in the win.

The Greyhounds road trip continues Friday night in Kingston. They will wrap up their East Division road trip on Sunday afternoon in Ottawa.

*** AROUND THE OHL

In the Ontario Hockey League’s other game on Thursday night, the Mississauga IceDogs defeated the Barrie Colts by 4-1 score. Stefan Legein scored a pair of goals in the win. Kyle Lamb chipped in with a pair of assists. Chris Lawrence and Gianluca Caputi scored the other Mississauga goals while Bryan Little scored the lone Barrie goal.