Determined Hounds halt slide
by Peter Ruicci (Independent Media) | Photo courtesy of Tom Martineau
Playing with resolve yielded results for the Soo Greyhounds on Wednesday.
The Soo scored three times in a span of 8:12 in the second period, en route to a 4-1 victory over the North Bay Battalion in front of 3,187 at North Bay Memorial Gardens.
The win snapped a two-game losing skid for the Hounds, who had lost eight of 10 going into the contest.
“What we’ve been sick of is seeing spurts of potential and then shooting ourselves in the foot,” said head coach John Dean, whose club was playing its second-to-last game before the Christmas break.
The Hounds are set to wrap things up on Friday in Guelph (7:07 p.m.), prior to returning to action Dec. 28-29 for back-to-back home games against Windsor.
“We were determined to put 60 minutes together and to stop beating ourselves,” added Dean, whose team improved to 15-17-0-0. “I’m extremely proud, especially of how we played over the first 30 minutes. We were really, really sharp.”
“We were super determined,” added winger Marco Mignosa, who contributed a goal and an assist, boosting his stat line to 12-16-28 in just 22 games. “We hadn’t been playing great hockey, so it was good to get back in the win column.”
Dean had been critical of several of his team’s recent performances.
He challenged his players this week, questioning them as to how much they were willing to do for each other.
“We showed our care factor tonight for the guy beside us,” said Dean, whose team came out with an energy that had been missing at times in recent games. “We were getting above pucks, tracking, finishing hits, blocking shots – all of the things good hockey clubs need to do to win.”
“For sure, we had a lot of juice in the locker room,” said rookie rearguard Chase Reid, a standout in just his fifth game with the Hounds after being signed on Dec. 11. “It’s the hungriest we’ve been since I got here, for sure.”
Reid, who displayed his strong skating and offensive flair, talked about how he and his teammates executed the game plan.
“Forecheck, backcheck, paycheque,” said the Chesterfield, Mich., native, taken by the Soo in the seventh round of the 2023 OHL draft. “We definitely needed that game.”
With the score tied 1-1 in the middle frame, Reid did the work to help spark the Hounds hot streak.
The 16-year-old (2007 birth year) carried the puck coast-to-coast, fed Mignosa behind the net and the veteran winger found Brodie McConnell-Barker in the right circle.
The veteran defenceman, who was impressive throughout, beat Mike McIvor high to the glove side to put the visitors up 2-1 at the 3:29 mark.
On the power play, just under two-minutes later, Noel Nordh made a beautiful feed from behind the net and Brady Martin converted. The second-year centre notched his 15th of the season, going up high to give his team a 3-1 lead.
Six-minutes after that, a Battalion defender blew a tire and the Hounds pounced on the turnover. Brady Smith fed Charlie Hilton and, from the left side of the goal, Hilton scored on the short side to make it 4-1 at 11:41.
The Soo opened the scoring 4:36 into the opening period. Carson Andrew won an offensive-zone face-off and Mignosa skated the puck into the high slot. His shot appeared to hit a Battalion defender before it eluded McIvor.
That was Mignosa’s third goal over the last four games.
North Bay tied it 1-1 early in the second following a turnover at the Hounds blue-line. Nick Wellenreiter found Andrew LeBlanc on the right side of the goal, and he beat Landon Miller on the glove side.
On Teddy-Bear-Toss-Night in North Bay, play stopped at that point for the ice surface to be cleared.
“But I don’t think we lost any momentum at all,” said Dean, whose club was about to score its three quick ones. “Our response to that goal was exceptional, and our next shift was fantastic.”
On a night when the home side held a 32-26 edge in shots, Dean said he thought Miller was “great. He gave us a chance to win.”
The loss dropped North Bay to 13-14-3-0.
Notes:
The Greyhounds list of future assets grew on Wednesday when the Battalion announced the signing of centre Ryder Cali.
The Hounds chose Cali in the first round (No. 18 overall) of the 2024 OHL draft, but dealt him to North Bay in September after the player refused to report. Instead, Cali committed verbally to Harvard University.
However, the recent NCAA rule changes freed Cali to join the OHL.
Even if Cali hadn’t signed with the Battalion, the Greyhounds were getting a compensatory first round choice (19th overall, as per OHL rules) in next year’s draft, along with a 2025 sixth-rounder that North Bay surrendered as part of the trade.
Now that Cali is joining the Battalion, the Troops will also owe the Greyhounds second and fourth-round choices in 2028 and a seventh-rounder in 2027.
Meantime, Centre Owen Allard (upper-body injury), forward Chris Brown (upper body) and rearguard Spencer Evans (upper body) all missed Wednesday’s clash.
