Soo gets squashed in Sarnia
by Peter Ruicci (Independent Media) | Photo courtesy of Metcalfe Photography
You’d need a strong prescription in order to see any positives in the Soo Greyhounds performance on Friday.
The Hounds did little right, dropping a humbling 12-1 decision to the Sarnia Sting before 3,614 at Progressive Auto Sales Arena.
“The team is embarrassed. When you get beaten like that, everyone is embarrassed,” said overage centre Mark Duarte, whose club has permitted 28 goals in its last three games, including the season-high total of 12 surrendered to the Sting. “That’s unacceptable – especially at this time of year.”
“That’s as big an egg as you can possibly lay,” added head coach John Dean, whose team has dropped six straight and heads home with a 14-21-7-5 record after losing both games on a brief two-game trip. “There’s not much to say. It’s unacceptable for a team in a playoff race.”
Coupled with Kitchener’s 4-3 win over Guelph on Friday, the Hounds have fallen into ninth place in the OHL’s Western Conference. With a 20-22-2-0 record, the Rangers hold eighth place, two points ahead of the Greyhounds. Kitchener also has three games in hand.
Asked what bothered him most, on a night when the Soo gave up nine unanswered goals, Dean recited an abundance of sins.
“Lack of compete, lack of attention to detail, playing timid, not moving our feet, you name it,” the coach answered. “Everything you can think of. It’s tough to swallow. There’s isn’t anything good to say about that game.”
Questioned as to whether he was angry and/or embarrassed, captain Bryce McConnel-Barker answered without hesitation.
“A little bit of both,” he said. “Obviously letting a game like that get out of hand is never good. We got outplayed and gave up too many Grade A scoring chances.”
Trailing 2-0, the visitors were seemingly still in the game until the Sting scored with 13.3 seconds left in the opening period.
Following a turnover, Nolan Dillingham made a beautiful stretch pass to send Luca Del Bel Belluz in on a breakaway. The veteran centre made a left-to-right move and slipped the puck through Landon Miller’s five-hole to make it 3-0.
In making his first OHL start, Miller snapped Samuel Ivanov’s streak of 23 consecutive starts.
All had come in the absence of Charlie Schenkel, who’s been out since late November with an upper-body injury.
That goal was a bad omen for the Hounds, who collapsed in the middle frame, surrendering six goals – including two in the final minute.
Hounds winger Kalvyn Watson beat Ben Gaudreau on the short side at the 4:49 mark of the second to make it 3-1.
But Marko Sikic scored his second goal of the night just 24 seconds later.
On the power play, Ty Voit notched his first of three goals on a tap-in 7:19 later to make it 5-1. Following Sarnia’s seventh goal, a power-play marker into a gaping cage by Del Bel Belluz, the Hounds pulled Miller in favor of Ivanov.
Nolan Burke made it 8-1 when his shot pinballed past Ivanov at 19:35.
And Sasha Pastujov added a soft one that Ivanov could only get a glove on with 1.2 seconds left in the frame.
Neither Soo netminder was sharp, but both had little help.
Both Del Bel Belluz and Voit finished with three goals and an assist while Sikic scored twice and set up another. Pastujov had a goal and four assists on a night when the home team won its sixth in a row, improving to 25-14-4-2. Burke and Cooper Way had a goal and an assist each while Brenden Andersen, on the power play, capped the scoring.
Sarnia held a 38-29 edge in shots.
Asked if some of his players quit when the game got out of hand, Dean said he hates using that particular word. He did say the Hounds lost their intensity.
As is the custom of most coaches, Dean didn’t speak to his players after the game.
Asked about showing video from this loss to his players on Saturday, Dean said: “We can do all the video we want. But at the end of the day it’s personality, character and a willingness to compete that have to shine through.”
McConnell-Barker was asked about holding a players-only meeting prior to Sunday’s 2:07 p.m. home start against Mississauga.
“We had one right before this road trip,” the captain said. “Obviously, it’s tough with how it worked out.”
So what can be done before the clash with Mississauga?
“We need to get back to playing with confidence and having trust in our D zone,” McConnell-Barker said. “We’re not a team that is going to win games off of skill. So we have to work our hardest every night.”
Dean talked about players looking into a mirror.
“We’ve had tough love, we’ve had constructive criticism and I think at some point you have to challenge yourself to put everything you have out there,” the coach said.
“We’ll have to be desperate on Sunday,” Duarte added. “We have to play desperate hockey and if we don’t, I don’t think we’ll get the outcome we want.”
