Beck to Hayes a winning combination
by Peter Ruicci (Independent Media) | Photo courtesy of Emmah Cacciotti (Sudbury Wolves)
They’re surely the last two Soo Greyhounds the Sudbury Wolves wanted to defend against in a 2-on-1 situation in overtime.
Gavin Hayes and Jack Beck worked a give-and-go to perfection on Wednesday with Hayes on the finishing end.
The veteran’s 36th goal of the season, with 33.3 seconds left in OT, gave the Hounds a 3-2 victory over the Wolves before 2,630 at Sudbury Community Arena.
“Clearly, one of their guys was tired and he was changing,” said Beck, while recounting the game’s key play. “And 3-on-3, that’s when you capitalize.”
Arttu Karki had fed the puck to Hayes on the right wing, creating the odd-man rush.
“I thought Gavin was going to shoot,” Beck continued. “But when he gave it to me, I knew right away I was giving it back.”
“He’s a passer. I knew he wasn’t shooting,” said Hayes, who, with Beck and Bryce McConnell-Barker, is part of the club’s hottest line.
“He was open back door. I saw him right away,” added Beck, who tried to sell the fact he was going to shoot, before making the feed and having a perfect view of the Hayes winner.
The right winger beat Wolves netminder Marcus Vandenberg low to the glove side.
Is there a better feeling in the regular season than scoring an OT goal?
No, answered Hayes.
“It’s a pretty-good feeling.”
“Gorgeous goal,” offered Hounds head coach John Dean, whose team managed to grab a victory on an up-and-down night.
The Soo coach spoke of Beck’s patience and the fact he thought Hayes “was on a mission.”
That, Dean added, was due to a turnover the Westland, Mich., native made on the first Sudbury goal.
“The poise of Becker is unbelievable and Gavin is obviously one of the best finishers in the league,” said Dean, whose team improved to 40-16-3-1, moving to within six points of first place Saginaw (44-15-1-1) in the battle for top spot in the West Division. The Spirit dropped a 3-2 overtime decision in Flint on Wednesday.
By virtue of that point, the Spirit tied London (43-14-1-3) for first place in the Western Conference with 90 points each. The Knights fell 5-4 in Guelph. Saginaw and London have seven regular season games remaining, while the Soo has eight.
Kitchener, (39-20-2-0), fourth in the conference and four points back of the Greyhounds, defeated Owen Sound 5-1 on Wednesday. The Rangers also have seven games left to play.
Skating minus four regulars, and travelling on the day of the game had Dean looking past his team’s shortcomings over the first two periods.
The Hounds struggled to create many scoring chances.
“We were fighting the puck a little bit,” said Dean, whose club returns home to face Guelph on Friday and Windsor on Saturday in 7:07 p.m. starts. “But to be honest, I’m not dwelling on the negative at all. I liked the way our guys battled, found a way to win and the perseverance of the group was impressive.”
Hayes, whose club was outshot 28-17 through two periods and 33-28 overall, talked about how the team tried to regroup during the second intermission.
“We just talked about leaving those 40 minutes behind and focusing on the next 20,” he explained. “And that’s what we did. I thought we had a good third period.”
Down 2-0, the Wolves got back into the game while skating 4-on-4 in the middle frame. Dalibor Dvorsky stripped the puck from Hayes at the Sudbury blue-line, skated in patiently and eventually slipped it through the five-hole on Charlie Schenkel. The goal, at 12:56, made it 2-1.
Just over five minutes later, Christopher Brown’s clearing attempt wound up on the stick of the Wolves Noah Van Vliet. His quick shot was redirected in front by Zach Giroux, with the puck eluding Schenkel high to the stick side.
That made it 2-2.
The Hounds had a four-minute power play that began late in the third period and carried into overtime. But they were unable to solve Vandenberg.
Until late in OT, that is
Justin Cloutier opened the scoring for the visiting side at 19:10 of the first period. Following a Wolves turnover, Brady Martin carried the puck down the left wing and fed Cloutier in the slot. He ripped one past Vandenberg on the glove side for his 22nd of the season.
Early in the second period, Brown skated down the left wing and fed Justin DeZoete in front. The Hamilton native scored on the glove side at the 4:45 mark for his fourth goal.
That gave the Soo a 2-0 advantage.
The loss dropped the Wolves to 34-19-4-3.
Dean called Schenkel a “monster. He gave us an opportunity to win that game.”
Notes:
The Hounds skated without defenceman Caeden Carlisle, serving the second of a two-game OHL suspension, along with forwards Travis Hayes, Marco Mignosa and Owen Allard.
All three are out with upper-body injuries. Allard was injured in practice on Tuesday and is listed as day-to-day.
Meantime, the Wolves lost two players to lengthy OHL suspensions on Wednesday for violating the league’s social media policy. Nathan Villeneuve was hit with a 15-game ban while Evan Konyen received a 10-game suspension.
As well on Wednesday, Sudbury’s Chase Coughlin served Game 3 of a four-game league-imposed ban.
Rotary’s annual Battle of the Sections is set for Saturday when the Soo plays host to Windsor. Rotarians and volunteers will pass buckets around the Gardens, collecting donations to be used in Rotary’s work with youth in the community.
The section with the highest amount collected per person will receive a prize donated by Final Touch Property Management.
