Mistakes costly for Greyhounds

HAMILTON, Ont. – A slow start was the difference for the Soo Greyhounds on Monday night.

A three-goal opening period put the Greyhounds behind the eight-ball early in a 6-5 loss to the Hamilton Bulldogs at the FirstOntario Centre in game three of the Ontario Hockey League final. 

After the Greyhounds took a 1-0 lead early in the opening period, the Bulldogs came right back to tie the contest just under three minutes later and take the lead for good with a pair of goals midway through the opening frame.

“In the first period, we ended up chasing the puck a lot,” said Greyhounds Coach Drew Bannister. “We started to play in the second and third periods when we were down a couple of goals.”

Bannister called the early goals “self-inflicted.”

“Our players take responsibility for it,” Bannister said. “They need to be better as individuals and a group. Those are the things that we’re going to have to clean up in our game to have success.”

Bannister would also say the game was one that saw the Greyhounds make “way too many mistakes.”

“Hockey is a game of mistakes and we were the team that made the most mistakes out there today,” Bannister said. “We did show a lot of battle to work ourselves back into the game a couple of times but continually, we shot ourselves in the foot.”

“At the end of the day, we made way too many mistakes to win the hockey game,” Bannister added. “When you’re on the road and score five goals, you should expect to win the hockey game.” 

Greyhounds captain Tim Gettinger, who paced the visitors offence with a pair of goals, spoke of the need to regoup.

“We have to put what happened tonight behind us,” Gettinger said. “We showed a lot of fight to get back in the game, but we came up short. We have to regroup and get back to it for game four.”

Jack Kopacka added a goal and an assist for the Greyhounds while Joe Carroll and Morgan Frost also scored. 

Boris Katchouk set up three goals while Rasmus Sandin and Mac Hollowell set up two goals each.

Goaltender Matthew Villalta made 27 saves for the Greyhounds.

Brandon Saigeon scored a pair of goals for Hamilton. 

“We played a good game tonight and it we stay disciplined, there’s no reason why we can’t be successful,” Saigeon said. 

Marian Studenic chipped in with a goal and an assist while Will Bitten, Arthur Kaliyev and Nicholas Caamano also scored. Ryan Moore and Riley Stillman assisted on three goals each for Hamilton.

Bulldogs goaltender Kaden Fulcher stopped 28 shots.

“We played exceptionally well but got ourselves into some penalty trouble,” said Hamilton Coach John Gruden. “We had a couple of nice kills but they’re a dangerous team. If you give them life and you give them opportunity, they’re going to capitalize. 

The win gives the Bulldogs a 2-1 series lead heading into game four on Wednesday night in Hamilton before the series shifts back to Sault Ste. Marie on Friday night.