Hounds stomp Bulls for third straight win

The Soo Greyhounds are in the midst of a heated battle with the Windsor Spitfires for the final playoff spot in the Ontario Hockey League's Western Conference, and neither team is backing down from the fight.

With the Spitfires having Friday night off, the Greyhounds had an opportunity to put some pressure on the Spits with a win over the Belleville Bulls at Memorial Gardens.

The Hounds responded by using three goals in the third period to pace themselves to a 5-1 victory over the Bulls in front of over 3,000 people at Memorial Gardens.

The Hounds got off to a quick start in the game, taking the play to the Bulls and scoring twice before the period was seven minutes old.

Matt Puntureri scored both Hounds goals. His first came after a Jordan Smith point shot sailed over the Bulls net and bounced back out in front over the net where Puntureri batted the puck out of the air and into the net before Bulls goaltender Thomas Samaris could catch the puck.

Then, just over a minute later, Puntureri scored his second goal of the evening beating Samaris with a shot from the slot.

Belleville got on the board late in the period when they used a two man advantage to beat Hounds goaltender Kevin Druce as David Edgeworth cut the lead to one heading into the first intermission.

After an uneventful second period, the Hounds took over in the third period, despite being outshot by a 16-10 margin in the period. Aaron Lewicki gave the Hounds a 3-1 edge with a goal at 1:32. Less than 30 seconds later Jason Pitton increased the lead to 4-1. Chris Lawrence capped off the scoring at 9:58 to give the Hounds the 5-1 win.

Druce, who was named the game's second star, was busy in the third period and stopped 28 shots overall for the win. Samaris, after getting off to a slow start, finished the game with 26 saves in the loss.

Hounds coach Marty Abrams was pleased that his team continued to roll and beat teams lower than them in the standings, something that Abrams stressed at times this season.

"It's critical," Abrams said. "We need to beat these teams (like Sudbury, Belleville and Saginaw). It was a tough game though; (Belleville) works really hard."

Abrams was also pleased with the play of Lewicki and Puntureri, saying that they were the key to the win. "They won us the game tonight," Abrams said. "They were really steady tonight. We need the Puntureri's, the Lewicki's, the Jeff Larsh's to step up and they have."

The Greyhounds move to 25-28-3-1 on the season and move two points ahead of Windsor for the final playoff spot in the conference.

Abrams also stressed that his team can't worry about Windsor, who holds three games in hand on the Hounds, and that they "have to win our games and worry about what we have to do."

Windsor will play one of those games in hand on Saturday night, when they face Kingston.

The Greyhounds next see action on Sunday evening when the Guelph Storm makes their final regular season appearance at the Memorial Gardens. The game is set for 6 p.m.

*** GOLD MEDAL PERFORMANCE:

Fans in attendance at Friday night's game were treated to a figure skating performance by Echo Bay native Terra Findlay and her skating partner John Mattatal in the first intermission.

The pair has enjoyed plenty of success over the past two years earning a fourth place finish at their first Canadian Championships. Last July, the pair earned a gold medal at the North American Challenge in Cleveland, Ohio. Last fall, the pair attended two Jr. Grand Prix events in Europe, where they earned a fourth place finish and a bronze medal finish.

Most recently, they won a silver medal at the Canadian Championships in Edmonton. The pair has also been selected by Skate Canada to represent their country at the World Junior Championships in the Netherlands next month.

The pair were so well received in their skate during the first intermission that they performed an encore in the second intermission.