Gavin’s been great for Greyhounds
by Peter Ruicci (Independent Media) | Photo by Bob Davies (full gallery available here)
Wash, rinse, repeat.
In what’s becoming a habit, Gavin Hayes played a major role – yet again – for the Soo Greyhounds on Friday.
In his sixth game in a Hounds uniform, Hayes scored the winning goal and added an insurance, short-handed marker into an empty net.
The result, on a night when netminders Charlie Schenkel and Jackson Parsons were standouts, was a 4-2 win over the Kitchener Rangers in front of 4,493 at GFL Memorial Gardens.
“I like the puck on my stick when the game is on the line. I’m pretty reliable,” said Hayes, who has points in each of his Greyhound appearances, while posting a 7-6-13 stat line, for an average of just over two points-per-game. “Kirill (Kudryavtsev) made an awesome pass and it felt good to contribute.”
“He’s a game-breaker,” added head coach John Dean, whose team won its fourth in a row to reclaim sole possession of first place in the OHL’s West Division. “What I love about him is he has the ability to win a game for you, but he’s also so committed to everything else we’re doing.”
The Soo improved to 30-12-2-1 going into Sunday’s 2:07 p.m. home start against Sarnia.
Idle on Friday, Saginaw (30-12-0-1) is two points back of the Greyhounds with two games in hand.
With the score tied 2-2, Kudryavtsev was set up behind the Soo goal before firing the puck up the right-wing boards.
Hayes grabbed the pass, skated into the face-off circle and, with just 1:46 left in regulation, snapped a shot that beat Parsons high on the glove side.
Dean spoke of how, in their pre-scout, the Hounds realized that when they had the puck behind their net, the opportunity for a stretch pass was there.
“Bryce (McConnell-Barker) could have grabbed the pass,” Hayes explained. “I was like ‘leave it, leave it,’ and I just snuck behind their guys.”
McConnell-Barker was making his return to the lineup after being sidelined since Dec. 10 with a concussion.
Meantime, once he grabbed the pass, Hayes said he “pulled the puck in and shot it high. That was the spot (high glove) that I wanted.”
Just over a minute later, with the Kitchener net empty and the Rangers on the power play, Hayes sealed it. The former Flint Firebird wristed the puck down the ice for his 26th goal of the season.
“He’s a guy with a killer instinct,” said Dean. “What a difference-maker he’s been for the Soo Greyhounds.”
And that’s exactly what Schenkel was Friday – especially in the second period of what was a scoreless game for over 36 minutes.
The veteran goalie made a number of beautiful saves as Kitchener outshot the home side 15-7 in the middle stanza.
“I’m a goalie and I love stopping the puck,” said Schenkel, on a night when both clubs had 28 shots overall. “When you’re getting lots of shots it’s easier to get into a groove. I just want to give my team the best chance of winning.”
“Charlie was unbelievable tonight,” said Hayes. “But we didn’t help him out as much as we should have.”
With both goalies making big saves, Marco Mignosa finally opened the scoring at 16:46 of the second period. Jordan D’Intino, on the right wing, fed the puck to Mignosa in front. He made a move around defenceman Olivier Savard, settled the puck down and beat Jackson Parsons with a nifty, left-to-right move.
The home side made it 2-0 just 1:32 later. From behind the Rangers net, Christopher Brown fed Matt Virgilio just inside the blue-line. Parsons appeared to get a piece of Virgilio’s one-timer, but the goal extended the Soo lead.
However, at 9:58 of the third, Virgilio’s turnover at his own blue-line allowed the Rangers to cut the Hounds lead in half. Matthew Sop grabbed the puck, skated in on a breakaway and used a left-right move before scoring on the backhand.
Kitchener tied it at 16:35 when Sop made a slick feed to Eduard Sale, who cut in off the left-wing and scored on the backhand.
Kudryavtsev was a standout, finishing with three assists. Sop was the Rangers best player, contributing a goal and an assist.
Kitchener head coach Jussi Ahokas, whose club fell to 30-14-2-0, said he thought mistakes, especially on the game-winning goal, were the difference.
“But our young guys played really well. We had five, 16-year-olds in the lineup,” added the coach, whose club was missing a number of key players, including defenceman Hunter Brzustewicz and wingers Trent Swick and Filip Mesar. “It’s like putting money in the bank.”
Ahokas also thought the fact his club couldn’t score on the power play, going 0-for-5, was critical.
McConnell-Barker, who assisted on Mignosa’s goal, spoke of how good it felt to be back.
The captain missed a total of 14 straight games.
“I obviously missed playing. I was getting antsy. That was the toughest thing I’ve ever gone through in hockey,” said the New York Rangers prospect. “But I knew I had to take time with it, due to the nature of the injury.”
Dean said he was so happy to see McConnell-Barker back in the lineup, noting how the veteran played an “extremely detailed game.”
The coach also praised the crowd, calling it “electric,” while noting how his players “fed off of it on several occasions. We’ve been hard on the boys to put a product on the ice at home Soo fans can be proud of.”
