Wolves nip Hounds by a goal

After a disappointing road trip that saw the Soo Greyhounds come away with just one victory in three games, a home date with the Sudbury Wolves could not cure the Hounds woes.

Just three nights after a tough 6-3 loss at the hands of the Oshawa Generals, the Hounds dropped a 2-1 decision to the Wolves at Memorial Gardens on Wednesday night.

The Wolves thought they had taken an early 1-0 lead at 5:29 when a dump in from centre ice by Marc Staal eluded Hounds goaltender Kyle Gajewski. The goal was immediately waved off though as the play was deemed to be offside.

Exactly two minutes later the Greyhounds officially opened the scoring when David Kuchejda knocked a rebound of a Brett Halstead shot past Kevin Beech and into the Wolves goal.

After being outshot 13-3 in the opening period, the Wolves began to pick up their play in the second period. Outshooting the Greyhounds 9-4, the Wolves scored a pair of goals to take the lead.

Stefan Blaho got the Wolves on the board by beating Gajewski at 8:44 to tie the game. Late in the period, at 18:17 to be exact, Benoit Pouliot scored on the man-advantage to give the Wolves a lead they would not relinquish.

The teams played a tight third period but the Greyhounds could not find a way to beat Beech again as the Wolves held on for the victory.

"It was certainly a frustrating game because I thought in the first period we played well," said Hounds coach Craig Hartsburg. "We were smart, we worked hard, we got scoring chances. In the second period we got away from it. Our team has to be prepared to do everything night for 60 minutes.

"In the second period we were soft, we turned the puck over. On the other side of it, we had chances, we hit some goal posts. We out-chanced them at least 2-to-1 in the game. We have to build on that and we've got to find a way to capitalize more on our chances."

Hartsburg added that he did see some positive things from his top three lines in the game.

"I thought our top three lines all had some decent shifts," Hartsburg said. "In the first period I though Desjardins' line was the best line on the ice. We're just trying to stay positive and get ready for the next game. We have to continue to try to put longer efforts together."

Hartsburg noted the Greyhounds defensive play in the game, which only allowed Sudbury to get 24 shots through to Gajewski, of which only seven or eight were deemed quality scoring chances.

"We didn't give up much," Hartsburg noted. "We have to continue to be good defensively."

The Hounds will be back in action at Memorial Gardens when the Plymouth Whalers visit on Friday night at 7:30 p.m. while the Guelph Storm are in town on Saturday evening, also in a 7:30 p.m. start.

*** AROUND THE O:

AT MISSISSAUGA: After playing to a scoreless draw through regulation time and overtime, the Mississauga IceDogs and Guelph Storm went to a shootout. It took eight shooters from each team before Kelsey Wilson scored the lone shootout goal to give the Storm a 1-0 victory. Ryan MacDonald stopped 32 shots for the shutout while Michael Ouzas stopped 47 shots in the loss.

AT SAGINAW: Rob Schremp had a pair of goals while Dylan Hunter added a goal and an assist to lead the London Knights to a 4-1 victory over the Saginaw Spirit. Rob Drummond also chipped in with two assists.

AT PLYMOUTH: Dan Collins scored at 2:09 of overtime to lift the Plymouth Whalers to a 4-3 victory over the Sarnia Sting. James Neal and John Vigilante each added a goal and an assist in the victory.

GAME PHOTOS WILL BE ADDED.