Katchouk seals overtime win for Greyhounds

Just 24 hours after dropping an overtime decision to the Flint Firebirds, the Soo Greyhounds recovered to finish a three-game homestand on a high note.

Boris Katchouk scored at 2:08 of overtime to lift the Soo Greyhounds to a 4-3 victory over the Ottawa 67’s in Ontario Hockey League action at the Essar Centre.

Katchouk went to the net and converted a feed from Hayden Verbeek to give the Greyhounds the victory.

“(Verbeek) started skating and I just wanted to make sure I caught up to his speed and luckily he passed to me and I finished it off,” Katchouk said.

After dropping the opening two games of the homestand, Saturday’s result was a pleasing one.

 “We played really well,” Greyhounds Coach Drew Bannister said.

“We made two mistakes in the third period that cost us,” Bannister also said, “but it was nice to see the guys settle down after that and eventually get the win.”

The Greyhounds opened up a 3-1 lead through 40 minutes that saw the team outshoot the 67’s 15-3 in the opening period and hold a 30-12 shot edge through two.

Bannister called the first two periods “excellent.”

“We played really smart and we started getting pucks deep early and get on the pucks and work them low and create chances off of it,” Bannister said. “It was great for the guys to see that they simplified things and got rewarded for it.”

“We worked smarter tonight,” Bannister said.

Rookie netminder Matthew Villalta got the start and made 20 saves, including 18 over the final two periods.

“He didn’t really have a lot of work early on but late in the game he looked confident and calm in the net,” Bannister said. “He’s going a great job for us when we need him to go in.”

The win is the second on home ice for the Greyhounds.

“It’s not so much a distraction in the room but it’s a distraction when the guys leave the room,” Bannister said of the Greyhounds struggles on home ice to start the season. “We played well on the road. We can play better at home and we know that. I think this will help us. We need to keep pushing.”

“We were trying not to think about (the struggles),” Katchouk said.

The Greyhounds overall record now sits at 8-4-1-0.

What pleased Bannister the most was the play throughout the Greyhounds lineup in the win.

“The effort from everybody right from the start, I can’t look at my lineup and say that anybody really struggled,” Bannister said. “Everybody came focused to play. They bought in and got rewarded. It’s nice to see.”

Bobby MacIntyre had a goal and two assists for the Greyhounds while Tim Gettinger added a goal and an assist. Otto Makinen also scored for the Greyhounds.

Veteran forwards Drake Rymsha, Patrick White and Jared Steege completed the scoring for Ottawa. Goaltender Olivier Lafreniere made 35 saves.

“We were outplayed and outmatched for two periods,” said Ottawa Coach Jeff Brown. “It was a moral victory to come out the way we did in the third period and get the point. We’re disappointed that we didn’t get the point in overtime but our guys finally showed a little life in the third period and that’s the best period we’ve played in a long time.”

The third period was a positive for an Ottawa team that fell to 3-7-2-0 with the loss.

They’ve got to decide collectively that they’re going to go out and work hard, be good teammates and play good systems and they did that in the third,” Brown said. “We really worked hard. There was some life. That was the most life we had in quite a while. I was really proud of the way they came to play hard in the third.”

The Greyhounds return to action on Oct. 27 on the road in Windsor against the Spitfires. The game opens up a stretch of five-straight on the road as the team vacates the Essar Centre for the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge which opens with exhibition games on Oct. 27 as well.

Notes: Zach Senyshyn missed the game dues to what the team called an “upper-body injury.”

Bannister said the injury happened during Friday night’s overtime loss to Flint. It wasn’t serious enough for him to leave the game but he was kept out of Saturday’s game as a precaution.

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OTHER SCORES

In Erie, Kyle Pettit had a goal and two assists as the Erie Otters beat the Owen Sound Attack 5-2. Darren Raddysh and Taylor Raddysh added a goal and an assist each for the Otters. Gera Poddubnyi also scored for Erie. Ethan Szypula and Kevin Hancock scored for Owen Sound.

In Flint, four unanswered goals lifted the Flint Firebirds to a 4-1 win over the Windsor Spitfires. Hunter Holmes, Dane Johnston, Luke Kirwan and Everett Clark scored for the Firebirds. Gabriel Vilardi had the lone goal for the Spitfires. Windsor goaltender Michael DiPietro made 33 saves.

In Hamilton, Steve Harland scored at 3:19 of overtime to lift the North Bay Battalion to a 3-2 win over the Hamilton Bulldogs. Cam Dineen and Kyle Potts also scored for the Battalion. Hamilton goaltender Cole Ceci made 30 saves. Marian Studenic and Matthew Strome completed the Hamilton scoring.

In Saginaw, Jesse Barwell’s goal 22 seconds into the third period capped off a 3-2 victory by the Saginaw Spirit over the Kingston Frontenacs. The Spirit scored three unanswered goals in the victory. Goaltender Evan Cormier made 31 saves while Damien Giroux added a goal and an assist. Hayden Hodgson had the other goal for Saginaw. Filip Hronek assisted on a pair of goals for Saginaw. Linus Nyman had both goals for Kingston.

In Barrie, Noah Carroll had the overtime winner as the Guelph Storm beat the Barrie Colts 5-4. Isaac Ratcliffe had a pair of goals for Guelph. Garrett McFadden also scored for the Storm. Nate Schnarr assisted on two goals. Anthony Stefano had a goal and an assist for the Colts. Tom Hedberg and Justin Murray added two assists each. Matt Brassard, Cordell James and Kirill Nizhnikov also scored for Barrie.