Dean irate after mistake-riddled loss
by Peter Ruicci (Independent Media) | Photos by Bob Davies
FULL PHOTO GALLERY | GAME HIGHLIGHTS | GAME CENTRE
John Dean tore into his players on Friday, the way a sharp razor tears into a balloon.
“This was an extremely disappointing effort. Up and down the lineup, I’m extremely disappointed,” said the Soo Greyhounds head coach, whose team suffered from too many miscues in a 6-3 loss to the Kingston Frontenacs in front of 4,067 at GFL Memorial Gardens. “We’re making mistakes that are probably unacceptable in October. We’re making mistakes that no system can correct.”
Dean spoke of how, while the Hounds outshot the Frontenacs 19-10 in the opening period, “we gave them nine Grade A chances. We’re playing a game that does not work.”
Asked if his charges need to take a look in the mirror, the coach answered without hesitation.
“Big time. Guys need to take a hard look in the mirror. Some guys who want more minutes, some guys who play big minutes, they’ve got to take a look in the mirror.”
“I’m pissed off,” said overage Marco Mignosa, whose club fell to 35-18-1-5, seven points back of Windsor (38-14-5-2), a 6-1 winner over London (33-20-4-1) on Friday. “We haven’t been playing good hockey at all, as of late. We have to stop this trend. We’re getting close to playoffs and we have to wake up.”
Mignosa also agreed he felt embarrassed by the performance.
Meantime, idle Flint (38-14-4-2) fell to third place in the Western Conference on Friday, one point back of the Spits and six ahead of the fourth-place Greyhounds. Fifth-place London is five points behind the Soo with 10 games left.
Flint also has 10 remaining.
Kitchener (41-12-4-2), an 8-2 winner over Brampton, continues to lead the conference with 88 points. The Rangers, Spits and Greyhounds all have nine regular season games left.
“It’s not acceptable,” captain Brady Martin, who returned to the lineup on Friday after missing seven straight due to a shoulder injury, said in a quiet dressing room. “One-hundred per cent, we left two points on the table. The guys in this room, it’s under our control. Deaner‘s done everything in his power to get us rolling. It’s in our hands from here on out.”
Tied 1-1 after 20 minutes, the visitors scored three times in a span of 10:18 in the middle frame to take control of the contest.
Shortly after exiting the penalty box, Aleks Kulemin skated in on a breakaway, beating Carter George high to the blocker side. That made it 2-1 at 3:23.
Just under nine minutes later, George misjudged a puck he came out to play. With the Hounds unable to corral the puck in front, Landon Marleau scored his first OHL goal to make it 3-1.
The Hounds got caught up ice at the 13:41 mark, allowing the Fronts to break out 2-on-1. Kulemin fed Nolan Snyder who scored on the glove side to give his team a 4-1 advantage.
The Soo cut the lead to 4-3 before the period ended. Quinn McKenzie scored his 20th, beating Kingston netminder Matthew Minchak high blocker from the left circle at 14:08.
Four minutes later, Martin and Mignosa worked a give-and-go with Mignosa scoring his second of the night, and 30th on the season, on the stick side.
However, the third period proved disappointing as the home side was unable to generate much.
Minchak did make a beautiful save on a driving Colin Fitzgerald two minutes in, but Kingston made it 5-3 at 10:16.
On the powerplay, after the Greyhounds failed to clear, Tomas Pobezal redirected home his 15th of the season from in front.
Robin Kuzma capped the scoring with a late empty-net tally.
Mignosa opened the scoring six minutes into the first period before Nolan Buttar tied the game following a Greyhounds turnover. He beat George with the rebound from a Lukas Moore shot midway through the frame.
Vann Williamson finished with three assists for the visitors.
On a night when the Soo held a 36-28 edge in shots, Martin contributed a pair of assists in defeat.
“Tonight is a great win for us. We’re very proud of our kids,” said Fronts head coach Troy Mann, whose club improved to 27-27-3-2. “We weathered the first period storm. I’m proud of the way we defended in the third period and that fifth goal, on the powerplay, was big.”
Asked if George was merely human on Friday, Dean agreed.
“But I’m very disappointed we couldn’t pick him up,” the coach added.
Dean also said Martin looked good.
“He made a couple of great plays for goals. But he looked tired at the end of the game.”
“I felt pretty good. I was laying hits, I felt like myself,” said Martin, who last played on Feb. 8 against Windsor. “I feel 100 per cent right now.”
The Soo captain also said there’s no doubt he’ll be in the lineup on Wednesday when the Hounds visit Flint. The Soo also visits Kitchener on Friday and Guelph on Saturday.
A week later, the Greyhounds are set to travel to Windsor for a March 12 clash and to Flint, one day later.
It’s a stretch that will likely determine where the Soo finishes.
“We’ve got to get our finger on things in a hurry,” said Dean.
“We have to be ready to go,” added Mignosa.
Notes:
The Greyhounds will hold a special event on Sunday (2:07 p.m.) when they play host to their second annual Greyhounds Guardians Game, in support of Special Olympics Ontario.
Admission for the family-oriented event is $5 per person (cash only).
