VIDEO: Greyhounds cap off impressive weekend

Considering the strength of their competition, it’s likely the best two-game stretch the Soo Greyhounds have had all season.

The Greyhounds capped off weekend action on Saturday night with a 7-1 win over the Sarnia Sting at the Essar Centre. It was a weekend that saw the team beat a pair of nationally-ranked opponents in the Sting and the Hamilton Bulldogs on Friday night, outscoring the two clubs by a combined score of 17-1.

“Other than our record, they’re the two other best teams in the league right now,” said Greyhounds Coach Drew Bannister. “The Hamilton game was a bounce-back game from the way we played (in Hamilton) last Sunday. The last time we played in Sarnia, we didn’t play bad but we probably only played 20 minutes of the hockey game.”

Just 24 hours after a 10-0 victory over the Bulldogs, the Greyhounds continued the momentum into Saturday’s game.

“We came out well and built off of what we did last night,” Bannister said. “We executed well, Matty (Villalta) made the saves we needed him to and with our opportunities, we were able to capitalize.”

The Greyhounds held the Sting power play scoreless in four opportunities, including a pair early on in the game.

“The penalty kill early in the first period was really good,” Bannister said. “They’re the best power play in the league and we were able to kill them off here tonight.”

Rasmus Sandin scored a pair of goals for the Greyhounds while Taylor Raddysh added a goal and two assists. Anthony DeMeo, Barrett Hayton, and Joe Carroll added a goal and assist for the Greyhounds. Verbeek had the other Greyhounds goal. Jack Kopacka assisted on three goals for the Greyhounds.

DeMeo’s goal was the first of his OHL career (157 games).

Villalta made 27 saves for the Greyhounds.

Anthony Salinitri had the lone goal for the Sting while goaltender Justin Fazio made 30 saves.

“We were pushing hard in the second period and we played well in the second period,” Sting Coach Derian Hatcher said. “We were playing well and starting to establish our game, they had a few chances and they scored on them.”

The Greyhounds lost the services of defenceman Jacob LeGuerrier in the second period after a hit by Sarnia’s Kelton Hatcher. The sophomore blueliner did not return after the injury.

Bannister didn’t have an update on LeGuerrier’s status following the game.

The win moves the Greyhounds 18 points ahead of the Sting atop the OHL’s West Division with a record of 47-6-2-2 while Sarnia falls to 39-13-4-0.

The Greyhounds return to action next weekend with road games in Windsor against the Spitfires on Saturday night and in London against the Knights on Sunday afternoon.

In other action around the OHL on Saturday, in Erie, Liam Foudy had the overtime winner as the London Knights beat the Erie Otters 5-4. Foudy finished the night with a pair of goals.

In Flint, Blade Jenkins, Mason Kohn and Damien Giroux had a goal and two assists each as the Saginaw Spirit beat the Flint Firebirds 5-3.

In Sudbury, Brandon Saigeon and Matthew Strome had a goal and two assists each as the Hamilton Bulldogs beat the Sudbury Wolves 8-4. Ben Gleason added a pair of goals for the Bulldogs. MacAuley Carson had two goals and an assist for the Wolves.

In Barrie, Dmitry Sokolov had a goal and two assists as the Barrie Colts beat the Niagara IceDogs 3-1. Aaron Luchuk added a goal and an assist for the Colts. 

In Owen Sound, Nick Suzuki had two goals and two assists as the Owen Sound Attack beat the Ottawa 67’s 9-6. Alan Lyszczarczyk chipped in with two goals and an assist while Kevin Hancock and Maksim Sushko had a goal and two assists for the Attack.