Division lead increased to 3-points with win over Spitfires

Story by soogreyhounds.com  |  Photos courtesy of James Egan Photography

SAULT STE. MARIE, ON –
The Hounds kept their winning streak alive and increased their lead over the Windsor Spitfires in the West Division in a game Head Coach Drew Bannister felt “they found a way to win” in.

“We found a way to win.  It was an ugly hockey game for us I would say but we still found a way to win.  We capitalized on their mistakes.  There’s gonna be games like that when we kind of have to grind it out” he began post-game.

Windsor came out of the gates hard against the Hounds and paced the contest early in many aspects while building up an early shot advantage the home side would later push back at.

With under ten minutes to go in the first period, Sooite Mario Culina would put a pad on perhaps the Hounds best scoring chance foiling the backhand of TIM GETTINGER.

Minutes later the Hounds would take their first lead of the game.
After winning an offensive zone face-off the puck cycled to the corner before being put out front to BORIS KATCHOUK who notched his 12th goal of the year for the 1-0 lead.
For Katchouk it was his 4th goal in as many games, while the Kitchener ON product extended his points streak to eight games.  CONOR TIMMINS and HAYDEN VERBEEK picked up the assists.

Windsor would later flex the muscles of their #1 ranked powerplay, converting on their first chance of the game.
Cole Carter finished off the give-and-go with Luke Boka to net his 10th goal of the year and send the team’s into the dressing room tied at a goal apiece.

After the Hounds began the second period with 1:43 on a powerplay that resulted in zero shots on goal, it was the visitors who was carrying momentum and beating the locals to pucks before they would later begin trading offensive zone time.

Midway through the period an odd-man rush in the Greyhounds favour saw BOBBY MACINTYRE set-up MORGAN FROST with a quality scoring chance that was turned aside.

But two goals late in the period would extend the lead for the Hounds.
At 16:42 a Windsor turnover saw DAVID MILLER skate in and fire to the blocker side on Culina, beating the Spitfire netminder despite the fact he got a piece of the shot, for a 2-1 lead.
Then 1:33 later, CONOR TIMMINS pursuit of the puck gained control where he set-up BOBBY MACINTYRE for a blocker shot that would light the lamp cleanly for a 3-1 Greyhounds lead.
The goal, MacIntyre’s 15th of the campaign, provided the Hounds the two-goal lead through two periods.

A timely goal just twenty-three seconds into the third would prove as the final goal of the game as BORIS KATCHOUK would book-end the scoring with his second of the night, and 13th of the season.

And after surrendering a goal on their first shorthanded situation of the game, the Hounds would successfully kill off all three they were assessed in the third period, six minutes worth in a span of 8 minutes and twenty seconds.

“The latter part it was ok.  Again, I didn’t think we were great even on the PK.  We made a mistake on the one goal.  We didn’t execute, we had full possession of the puck I don’t know how many times and we weren’t able to get it out of the zone.  We can do a better job getting the puck 200 feet so didn’t get caught and tired” began Bannister in regards to his club’s penalty kill.

“Our specialty teams weren’t sharp.  Our 5-on-5 game, for most parts of the game wasn’t sharp”.

Despite being outshot 19-3 in the period and 36-27 overall, JOSEPH RAAYMAKERS (35 saves) was near perfect for the Hounds as they improved their record to 19-7-1-0, good for 39 points in the West Division.

“I thought Joseph was great.  He was the one guy that you could say came to play tonight.  I thought he was real good for us” said Bannister of his netminder.

The extends the Hounds winning streak to eight games overall, and four consecutive on home ice.

“I’m happy with the win.  There’s gonna be games where you don’t play their best.  I thought that was one where we looked at who they had in their line-up and thought it was going to be easier than it was for us.  Hopefully our guys take from this, they learn their lesson.  Obviously it didn’t cost us points but it wasn’t what I expected from these (our) guys” he concluded.

RELATED READING;
* Greyhounds overcome tough start to beat Spitfires (Sootoday.com)
* Hounds, Katchouk “on a heat streak” (Sault Star)

ATTENDANCE – 3,958

RED STAR THREE STARS OF THE GAME
1- Boris Katchouk, SSM
2- Bobby MacIntyre, SSM
3- Joseph Raaymakers, SSM

To view the OHL Boxscore CLICK HERE.

THANK-YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT
The Soo Greyhounds would like to thank all of their fans for their support towards this year’s Teddy Bear Toss event and participation in the Stuff-A-Bus campaign.

Your generosity in brightening the holidays for families in our community is greatly appreciated.

In addition allow us to send our appreciation to the Northside Auto Group who provided the vehicles for the clean-up of the animals on the ice.

UP NEXT;
The Hounds cap of their brief two-game home stand this Friday Night – December 2nd when they host the Barrie.

For the Colts, who feature Soo product Anthony Stefano, this will be their one-and-only regular season visit to the Lock City.

Game time is set for 7:07 PM at the Essar Centre.

Great seats are available by purchasing your tickets at the Essar Centre Box Office 10 AM to 5:30 PM on Thursday, 10 AM through game time on Friday or online anytime at www.essarcentre.ca or by phone at 1.866.775.9422.