Bannister “proud” of Hounds in one goal game with London
Story and photo by soogreyhounds.com | Post-game audio provided by Brad Coccimiglio (Sootoday.com)
SAULT STE. MARIE, ON-
It may not have been a home ice victory, but it was darn close.
Playing the most explosive team in the Ontario Hockey League (301 GF) in the London Knights, the Greyhounds won the specialty team game and received excellent netminding goaltending from BRANDON HALVERSON in dropping the 2-1 decision on Friday Night.
“I thought we played really well. We had opportunities to win that hockey game, obviously we weren’t able to score on the chances but the chances were there, we created the chances. I’m proud of the way we played. We competed, we worked and everyone was into the game from Halvy all the way out I thought our guys played really well tonight. We gave a very, very good hockey team a difficult time tonight” began Hounds Head Coach Drew Bannister.
“To hold them to two goals, they’re a dynamic hockey club they make a lot out of nothing a lot of times and we were able to stick with it and keep the game close and give ourselves an opportunity. We just weren’t able to score. Their goalie made some real big saves for them, we missed on some real good opportunities too” he continued.
While it was the Hounds who were playing their second game in as many days against a waiting London club, that didn’t faze the home side as they opened the scoring early in the first.
On their first powerplay of the night, ZACH SENYSHYN converted on a rebound and put it overtop and past Tyler Parsons at 4:45 for the 1-0 lead.
The goal assisted by TYLER HORE and BORIS KATCHOUK was Senyshyn’s 42nd of the season and came just eighteen seconds into the man advantage.
For the Hounds it marked the 7th game in their last 8 that they have connected on the powerplay.
And in a period that saw equal speed and energy from both sides, the home side received key saves from HALVERSON including one midway through the period on Owen MacDonald while later on the London man advantage the Hounds netminder moved left to right turning aside Olli Juolievi in close.
“I thought he was excellent. Loved the way he played. He is a guy that kind of took the team on his shoulders a little bit, I think he felt he wasn’t at his best in London and I think he really wanted to come out and perform tonight and he was fantastic” stated Bannister of the veteran Greyhounds netminder.
Mitch Marner made it a tied 1-1 game at 15:22 scoring his 50th goal of the season on a rebound in close.
Then in the final minutes of the period the Hounds speed game gave them two key opportunities to pull ahead.
With 3:25 to go in the period, ZACH SENYSHYN skated off the right wing while moving the puck through two Knights legs and placed a backhand that left a rebound eluding both HAYDEN VERBEEK and BORIS KATCHOUK.
KATCHOUK would cap off the period outracing the play in neutral ice to create his own breakaway but couldn’t pull the Hound ahead as the game was tied after twenty minutes.
London would take their first lead of the night 2:17 into the second period when the puck came from the left of the Greyhound goal and was redirected/jammed home by Max Jones to put London ahead 2-1.
The tight checking second period saw HAYDEN VERBEEK break in before the puck rolled away and then later MORGAN FROST moved from the side of the goal but couldn’t manage to get the puck to forehand, leaving London ahead by a goal through two periods.
It came down to twenty minutes, and while the Hounds defensively withstood the Knights while limiting them to a mere three shots in the opening nine minutes, offense would be hard to come by.
And when called upon BRANDON HALVERSON continued to turn chances aside include a blocker save on a Chad Heffernan breakaway with under seven minutes remaining in regulation. He made 32 saves on the 34 shots he faced on the night.
The Hounds had back-to-back powerplays in the final 5:10 of the period but couldn’t solve Parsons or the Knights before dropping the one goal game.
“Overall speciality teams were good, we killed their three powerplays, we were 1-for-3 with the opportunity towards the end to score. That’s the one negative that we didn’t score on the one powerplay at the end when we pulled the goalie” concluded Bannister.
The loss dropped the Hounds to 35-25-7-1, good for 70 points. They sit in 7th in the West Division, one point behind the Owen Sound Attack who gained a point in an overtime loss at Kitchener on Friday.
Both teams have four games remaining in the regular season
ATTENDANCE – 4283
RED STAR THREE STARS OF THE GAME
1- Brandon Halverson, SSM
2- Tyler Parsons, LDN
3- Zach Senyshyn, SSM
To view the complete game summary CLICK HERE.
UP NEXT;
The Greyhounds continue their home stand this Sunday afternoon – March 13th – when they host the Kitchener Rangers.
Game time is set for 2:07 p.m. and is presented by the Sault Ste. Marie Relay for Life.
Relay for Life volunteers will be at the game to kick-off their 2016 event. There will be a “pass the bucket” in the 1st period.
Last year Relay for Life Sault Ste. Marie raised $232,000 for the Canadian Cancer Society for living saving research and the Wheels of Hope Transportation Program.
On the ice, the Hounds take a 2 games to 1 advantage over the Rangers into the contest.
Great tickets are still available at the Essar Centre Box Office (10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, beginning at 10 a.m. on Sunday), online at www.essarcentre.ca or by phone at 1.866.775.9422.
Can’t make it to the game?
Fans can hear all the action beginning with the Bay Mills Resort & Casino’s pre-game show on Rock 101 (101.3 FM, www.rock101.net) beginning at 6:37 p.m.
This game will also be simulcast on Oldies 93 (93.9 FM)
The game is also broadcast on ShawTV locally (Cable Channel 10) beginning at 2 p.m.
