Hounds tame Colts (3 photos added)

The Soo Greyhounds wanted to make sure they didn't have a repeat performance of their efforts from Friday night at Memorial Gardens.

Thankfully for the 3,242 fans in attendance, the Greyhounds found themselves with a much better effort and two points as a reward.

Looking to get bark to the .500 mark and into a tie with the Sarnia Sting and Saginaw Spirit for second place in the Ontario Hockey League's West Division, the Greyhounds overcame an early goal and struck for a 4-2 victory over the visiting Barrie Colts.

"There's no explanation (why the difference in play from Friday and Sunday)," said Hounds coach Craig Hartsburg. "There's going to be nights where you don't have great energy. You've got to find a way even when you don't have energy to play a smart hard game."

The Hounds did fall behind early when Andrew Marshall scored on the power play just 43 seconds in to give the Colts a very early lead.

With the Greyhounds on a power play of their own later in the period they struck back. Tyson Aitcheson beat Colts goaltender Dan LaCosta to tie the game at one. Just under four minutes later Jacob King converted a chance at 13:22 to give the Hounds a lead.

Just three and a half minutes after King gave the Hounds the lead, Ryan Kitchen, who also had an assist in the win, scored another power play goal to give the Hounds a bit more cushion.

In the second period, Tyler Kennedy, who had three points on the night and was named the game's first star, scored his second goal of the season at 16:15.

A Hunter Tremblay goal at 7:44 of the third, and with the Hounds two-men short, cut the lead to 4-2 but the Colts could not battle back any further.

Kyle Gajewski stopped 23 shots for the victory while Dan LaCosta stopped 26 in the loss. Colts captain Bryan Little added two assists.

"(Little's) a great player," Hartsburg said. "Cuthbert and Wharton did a great job on him and the forwards who were on against him didn't give them any odd man rushes."

Hartsburg added that he was pleased with the improvement over Friday night's game after working on some issues in practice on Saturday.

"We talked about it at practice when we went onto the ice that we've got to get better," Hartsburg said. "We worked on some things. We talked about our effort and we practiced with a lot of jump."

A few things pleased Hartsburg more so than others on Sunday.

"We got more pucks to the net on power plays for one," he said. "We won more battles and we held onto the puck more tonight than we did the other night."

The Hounds now prepare to take their 5-5-0 record on the road as they travel to Sudbury on Tuesday night. Following a few days off the Hounds travel to Sarnia to take on the Sting on Friday before playing the Spirit in Saginaw on Saturday.

Next home action for the Hounds will be on Oct. 26 when they face the Spirit at home in a 7 p.m. start.

*** AROUND THE OHL:

In other Ontario Hockey League action on Sunday:

AT BRAMPTON: Kevin Beech stopped 39 shots as the Sudbury Wolves defeated Brampton 3-1. Marc Staal and Kyle Hope each had power play goals in the second period of the victory.

AT KITCHENER: Jean-Michel Rizk and Jakub Kindl each had a pair of assists while Dan Turple stopped 53 Kingston shots as the Rangers held on for a 3-1 victory.

AT MISSISSAUGA: Justin Dacosta scored with just four seconds left in overtime to give the Mississauga IceDogs a 2-1 victory. Michael Ouzas stopped 38 shots for the win in goal.

AT GUELPH: After falling behind 4-1 through two periods, the Guelph Storm exploded for five third period goals to defeat the Erie Otters 6-4. Ryan Callahan had three goals while Sault product Matt D'Agostini added four assists in the win.

AT TORONTO ST. MICHAEL'S: The London Knights offence exploded again on Sunday afternoon. The Knights, on the strength of an eight point effort – two goals and six assists – from Rob Schremp, defeated the Majors 14-6. David Bolland added six assists; Dylan Hunter had a pair of goals and two assists, while Adam Perry added three goals. Justin Donati had a pair of goals in the loss.