Struggles continue for Greyhounds with road loss (video)

Known as a group that has generally showed a lot of it, confidence is something the Soo Greyhounds are struggling with of late.

On the heels of a pair of losses on home ice to the Windsor Spitfires over the weekend, the Soo Greyhounds dropped a 2-1 Ontario Hockey League decision to the Saginaw Spirit on the road at the Dow Event Center on Tuesday night.

The stretch has been a struggle for a Greyhounds team that is in a tight battle for positioning in the OHL’s West Division, as well as in the Western Conference, with the regular season just weeks from completion.

“We’re lacking compete and a winning attitude,” said veteran forward Rory Kerins.

“A lot of it falls on me and the leadership group,” Kerins also said.

Overage defenceman Robert Calisti called the veterans “the motors of this team.”

“We have to lead, and we have to be better,” Calisti added.

Asked about a lack of confidence as a team, Calisti said it was a fair assessment.

“We have a lot of skilled players on this team, and we have opportunities to produce,” Calisti. “There’s not really an answer to it. It’s something we have to figure out fast because time is running out.”

On Tuesday night, the Greyhounds power play, which has played a role in the success of the hockey club this season, was held off the scoresheet in seven man advantages in a 2-1 Ontario Hockey League loss to the Saginaw Spirit at the Dow Event Center in Saginaw.

Greyhounds coach John Dean agreed that the lack of confidence also seeped into the power play for the Greyhounds, which went 0-for-7 in the loss.

“Part of it is holding your stick tight and trying a little too hard, feeling like all of the pressure is on their shoulders to produce,” Dean said. “Couple that with a really tough weekend and put those things together and it provides a lack of swagger or a lack of confidence and a bunch of guys gripping their sticks a little too tight.”

Dean added that “a lot of our five-on-five play leaks into special teams and when we’re not bearing down five-on-five, you can’t just flick a switch when special teams comes into play.”

Among the man advantages was a lengthy 5-on-3 late in the second period with the Spirit up by a goal in which the Greyhounds couldn’t capitalize.

Calisti called the opportunity a “game-changer.”

“We lost the game on missed opportunities,” Calisti added. “(The power play) is something that can go through stretches of being very hot and very cold. Right now is one of those times where it’s not clicking as well as it did.”

The Greyhounds got off to a quick start, taking the lead early on before the Spirit used a power play goal late in the period to send the game into the first intermission tied.

“We continue to shoot ourselves in the foot,” Dean said, referring to the solid start before the team was whistled for three penalties, two of which came late in the opening period and led to the tying goal.

“We can’t play the right way for 60 minutes for whatever reason,” Dean added. “The guys have trouble with it and it continues to cost us and, until they learn, it’s going to continue to cost us.”

Kerins opened the scoring for the Greyhounds 3:27 into the contest when he stepped around a Spirit defenceman in the high slot and beat Andrew Oke with a backhand 5-hole.

Saginaw got on the board thanks to a power play goal by Mitchell Smith, who beat Greyhounds starter Samuel Ivanov high stick side from the right point at 17:08.

Charlie Fink gave the Spirit the lead at 7:20 of the second period when he took a pass on a 2-on-1 from Luke McNamara and took a shot from the slot that appeared to get partially blocked by Calisti before beating Ivanov.

Ivanov stopped 14 shots for the Greyhounds while Oke made 18 stops for Saginaw.

With three straight losses, the Greyhounds fall to 33-21-6-1 and sit third in the OHL’s West Division with 73 points. The team is four points behind the Flint Firebirds for second in the division. Flint wat not in action on Tuesday but is scheduled to face the London Knights on Wednesday in Flint.

Saginaw improves to 21-39-1-0 and has won three in a row.

The two teams are scheduled to meet again on Friday night in a 7:07 p.m. start at the GFL Memorial Gardens.

The Greyhounds played Tuesday’s game minus captain Ryan O’Rourke, who was serving the first of an automatic two-game suspension for a slew-footing major in Sunday’s loss to Windsor.

O’Rourke will also sit out Friday’s game against the Spirit before returning to action on Sunday afternoon against Sarnia.

On the injury front, Dean said Tuesday he doesn’t expect rookies Marco Mignosa or Ethan Montroy to return to the lineup this weekend.