'Lack of respect' costs Greyhounds on road

Respect can make a difference in a hockey game.

On a day when the Soo Greyhounds struggled to create offence, the Sarnia Sting got some breaks en route to a 7-3 win over the Greyhounds at Progressive Auto Sales Arena in Sarnia in Ontario Hockey League action on Saturday afternoon.

Greyhounds forward Boris Katchouk said he was “embarrassed and disappointed” by the loss saying that the Greyhounds didn’t show enough respect to a Sting team that beat London earlier in the week.

“It was a lack of respect,” Katchouk said. “We know they were coming hard (after a loss to Erie on Friday night) and we started slow.”

The Sting jumped out to a 2-0 lead after goals by Anthony Salinitri and Jaden Lindo 27 seconds apart in the opening period and led 3-0 through 20 minutes. The lead would increase to 5-0 after goals 38 seconds apart in the opening minutes of the second period by Lindo and Jordan Kyrou.

Franco Sproviero and Drake Rymsha would score goals 2:29 apart in the third period.

“Right from the start we weren’t ready,” said Greyhounds Coach Drew Bannister. “We lacked intensity and urgency and that can be said throughout the whole game.

“Whether we were on the power play, the penalty kill or five-on-five, they were the better team and they outworked us,” Bannister also said. “They deserved to win the hockey game.”

Lindo finished the day with two goals and an assist while Sproviero had a pair of goals for the Sting. Rymsha and Salinitri had a goal and an assist each. Defenceman Jeff King assisted on three Sarnia goals while Sean Josling added a pair of helpers.

Sarnia goaltender Justin Fazio made 32 saves.

Special teams became an issue for the Greyhounds as the Sting scored a pair of shorthanded goals, with the Greyhounds subsequently going 0-for-4 with the man advantage, and added a power play marker in the third period on one of just two Sting power plays in the game.

Tim Gettinger, Hayden Verbeek and Blake Speers scored for the Greyhounds.

“We just weren’t good from the start,” Gettinger said. “The whole game we weren’t making plays, executing and playing our game and it cost us.”

Joseph Raaymakers got the start for the Greyhounds but was pulled after the Sting beat him four times on 16 shots. Matthew Villalta came in and stopped 15 shots in just over 36 minutes of action.

“(The change) had nothing to do with Ray,” Bannister said. “

“By the time the fourth goal came, I had to make a change. We weren’t playing in front of him,” Bannister also said. “I didn’t want to leave him in there to be the sacrificial lamb.”

Other than the Greyhounds win against London last weekend, Bannister said the team has “gotten away with some games” since returning from the Christmas break.

“We’ve been a team that’s been up and down,” Bannister said.

The Greyhounds fall to 21-5-0-0 on the road and 32-11-2-1 overall with the loss. Sarnia, in a battle with the Flint Firebirds for playoff positioning in the OHL’s Western Conference, improves to 22-18-5-1.

The Greyhounds return to action on Jan. 27 in the first of a pair of weekend home games. The team will face Windsor on Friday night before facing the Peterborough Petes the following night. Puck drop for both games is set for 7:07 p.m.

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OTHER SCORES

The other five games around the OHL were all evening games, including:

• Erie at Flint
• Kingston at Hamilton
• North Bay at Peterborough
• Niagara at Windsor
• Owen Sound at Barrie