Major effort tops Hounds

If they had their way, the Toronto St. Michael's Majors would likely want to play more games on the road.

Heading into Friday night's Ontario Hockey League game against the Soo Greyhounds, the Majors held a .500 record on the road with a 3-3-0-1 record.

The Majors, on the strength of a quality goaltending performance from starter Justin Peters, picked up their fourth road victory with a 3-2 win over the Hounds at Memorial Gardens.

Peters made 34 stops in being named the game's first star and made a number of big stops throughout the game including one late in the third period when he made a big stop on Andrew Desjardins with the Majors holding the lead.

Hounds starter Jakub Cech made some big saves as well stopping 37 Majors shots but fought the puck at times and saw two of the Major's goals scored through screens.

In the opening period, Justin DiBenedetto scored his first goal of the season at 14:48 on a shot that surprised Cech after fluttering through a screen in front.

Jason Pitton got the Greyhounds on the board early on in the second period as he took a cross-ice feed from Tyler Kennedy, who also had a strong night, and buried a shot past Peters to tie the game.

Just over three minutes later, with the Greyhounds on the man-advantage, Kennedy was up to the same tricks. This time the veteran centre spotted defenceman Jordan Smith pinching in and fed the blueliner a perfect pass that Smith was able to convert to give the Hounds a 2-1 lead at 8:51.

Later in the period, with the Majors putting a lot of traffic in front of the Hounds goal, Tyler Haskins was able to get the Majors back on even terms as he beat Cech to send the game into the third tied at 2-2.

In the third, the teams traded some chances but it was the Majors who were able to get the important third goal.

Ryan Wilson turned out to be the hero as he scored at 13:37 to give the Majors all the insurance they needed as Peters held the fort the rest of the way to give the Majors the 3-2 victory.

Hounds coach Craig Hartsburg said following the game that he was pleased with the start his team got off to and was also pleased with the play of Kennedy, but he was not happy with the Hounds "letting up on the throttle."

"We had a really good start," said the Hounds bench boss. "I could sense things were changing when (Toronto) scored that fluky goal. We let off the throttle early in the game and we lost too many puck battles. We didn't play with the desperation that we need to.

Tyler's one of our best players, Hartsburg said of the veteran, "and tonight we didn't have enough Tylers out there."

Hartsburg did credit Peters in the St. Mike's goal but also said that it's a part of the game.

"Their goalie played good," Hartsburg went on to say. "That's part of the game though. You can't let good goalies beat you."

The Hounds will now take their 7-9-3 record, which has them in second spot in the West Division and four points behind Windsor with two games in hand, into Sunday night's game against Sarnia at Memorial Gardens. Game time is 7 p.m.

*** BIG WINNER:

Veteran Greyhound fan Rick Houghton, who is a mainstay in his traditional seat in section 18 while cheering on the Hounds, took home $1100 on Friday night. Houghton scored in the Sault Star shootout in the first intermission of Friday night's game against Toronto.

*** AROUND THE O:

In other Ontario Hockey League action on Friday night, the London Knights continued to roll as they ran their record unbeaten streak to 20-games with an 8-2 victory over Belleville. Knights captain Danny Syvret scored two goals and also had two assists in the win.

The aforementioned Sting got a 35 save performance from rookie Mike Iafrate as they beat Guelph 4-2.

Windsor, who is currently battling the Hounds for top spot in the West, could not gain ground on the Hounds as they dropped a 6-2 decision in Kitchener.

Other scores around the league include Kingston beating Saginaw 5-2, Peterborough and Ottawa finishing tied at 2-2, Mississauga and Sudbury also finished in a 2-2 tie and Oshawa beating Erie 4-1.