GAME PREVIEW; Feb. 17/17 – KIT @ SSM
Building off their fourth win in their last five starts, the Soo Greyhounds are back in action inside the Essar Centre TONIGHT (7:07 PM).
The locals enter 3-1-0-0 since starting #TheHOMESTAND last week.
When it comes to tonight’s match-up with the Kitchener Rangers, it is just the second meeting of the season between the two clubs.
They last met over a month ago at the Memorial Auditorium in Kitchener.
The Hounds sit 2nd in the Western Conference while Kitchener holds down the 6th position.
Kitchener Rangers (29-21-2-2, 62 points)
@ Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds (38-14-2-1, 79 points)
Game is proudly presented by
HEAD-TO-HEAD
The Hounds and Rangers have only completed one (1) of their four (4) head-to-head meetings scheduled this season.
Here’s a recap of their first head-to-head matchup last month;
OTW 6-5, Jan. 6 @ KIT
Hounds trailed 2-1 after the first and sat tied 2-2 after forty minutes before wild third period; Teams traded off goals as the Hounds held leads of 3-2 (Senyshyn), 4-3 (Gettinger), 5-4 (Katchouk) before the games was forced to overtime; There just 11 seconds in Boris Katchouk ended the game with his 19th game of the season; Hounds outshot Kitchener 32-23; Rangers were 3-for-5 on PP
(Boxscore)
The season series will cap off next month with a pair of games in a span of five days; Sunday, March 5 @ Kitchener and Friday, March 10 @ SSM.
FIRING ON ALL CYLINDERS
Along with scoring 7 goals (8th time this season) on Wednesday, the Soo Greyhounds put up a season-high 54 shots against the Sudbury Wolves.
Firing 15 shots in the first and 25 in the second period, the Hounds fired 14 more at the Wolves goal in the third period.
(Shot diagram of the Hounds vs Sudbury Feb. 15/17)
SOME NOTES ON THE NUMBERS
Heading into their 56th game of the season, here are some notes on the stats for a few of the Hounds:
• ZACH SENYSHYN; Extended his scoring streak to 5 games. He now has 7 goals in his last 5 games played.
• BLAKE SPEERS; The Hounds captain enter’s tonight on a three game scoring streak. Blake has 5 goals during that span while increasing his totals to 22 points in 17 games played this season.
• CONOR TIMMINS; The team’s +/- leader (+38) now has points in eight of his last 12 games (15 pts total). The 2nd year defenceman has tallied 5 multi-point games (all assists) during that span.
• OTTO MAKINEN; The Tampere, Finland product scored his 7th goal of the season on Wednesday. For the first-year forward it was his first goal since back on November 27th.
• BOBBY MACINYTRE; The countdown to 300 career OHL career games played continues. The overage forward is now 7 away (not including tonight) from hitting the very respectable milestone.
RANGERS RANKED
Five members of the Kitchener Rangers were ranked in the NHL’s Mid-Term rankings released last month; Meireles (39), Seitz (100), McHugh (176), Garreffa (191), Roberts (208).
DID YOU KNOW?
• Kitchener is one of five OHL teams that sent at least 10 players from last year to NHL Training Camps at the beginning of the 2016-17 season.
• The Rangers have finished 13 of the last 15 seasons over the .500 mark. Heading into tonight they have eight more wins than losses this season.
TOP 3 IN SCORING
GREYHOUNDS
• Bobby MacIntyre (22-44-66); 6 GWG
• Boris Katchouk (26-24-50); 6 PPG; 6 SHG
• Conor Timmins (6-43-49); +38
RANGERS
• Adam Mascherin (32-54-86); 217 SOG, 5 GWG
• Joseph Garreffa (19-29-48); 18 PP Pts
• Connor Bunnaman (28-13-41); 3 GWG
OHL BOXSCORE
For all the stats throughout the game check out the OHL boxscore HERE.
RADIO/TV
The Rock 101 pre-game show with Gerry Liscumb Jr. begins starting at 6:37 PM. You can hear the action by tuning your FM dial to 101.3 or listen online HERE.
ShawTV will air the game starting at 7 PM.
MUIO’S PREDICTOR CHALLENGE
Don’t forget to take part in tonight’s “Muio’s Predictor Challenge”.
Tweet us who you predict to score the Hounds first goal for a chance to win a $10 Muio’s Restaurant gift card. #muios
Photo by James Egan Photography
