Duarte does the deed
by Peter Ruicci (Independent Media) | Photo courtesy of Tom Martineau/BayToday
The learning curve for a young team can be steep. But day by day, the Soo Greyhounds are finding ways to flatten it.
The Hounds won a season-best, third game in a row on Thursday – all against division leaders – beating the North Bay Battalion 4-3 in a shootout in front of 2,454 at North Bay Memorial Gardens.
In Round 4, Mark Duarte beat Battalion netminder Charlie Robertson through the five-hole to give the Hounds their first shootout victory of the season after four consecutive losses.
It also marked their second straight win in games decided beyond regulation. The Soo had started the season with eight consecutive overtime/shootout losses.
“This is one of the most-resilient groups I’ve ever coached, quite honestly,” said John Dean, in his fifth season as the Hounds head coach. “I’m just so proud of these guys to lose a lead and then go win in a shootout. There’s a growing confidence. We believe in ourselves.”
“We’re young, but growing every game,” added Duarte, an overage who was claimed on waivers from Hamilton in late September before making himself an indispensable member of the 2022-2023 Greyhounds. “As we go through the year, you’re going to see more and more progress. I feel we can do a lot of dangerous things this year with this squad.”
Trailing 3-2 late, the Battalion tied the game with Robertson on the bench for a sixth attacker.
Matvey Petrov fired the puck through traffic from the top of the left face-off circle, beating Samuel Ivanov on the short side at the 18:23 mark.
Overtime was drama soaked as both goaltenders shone. That sent the game to a shootout.
Both clubs had scored once when Duarte stepped up with a chance to win it.
“You have to have something pre-planned,” said the Hamilton native, whose club improved to 9-10-4-4 going into a Friday (7:30 p.m.) contest in Oshawa. “I felt comfortable coming down the left side. I faked a little shot. I was holding it, waiting for (Robertson) to bite on something and I beat him five-hole.”
The decision of where to shoot was aided by some keen advice from an observant teammate.
“(Tyler) Savard tipped me off about the five-hole,” said Duarte. “I’m giving the credit to Savard on that one. As a team we deserved to win.”
“His nickname on our team is Coach,” Dean said of Duarte, who was originally handed that moniker by the coaching staff. “He’s been Mr. Clutch all season and the kids rally around his energy.”
But while there were a number of contributors on this night, Dean heaped special praise on one player in particular.
“I thought Samuel was the best player on the ice,” the Soo coach said, on a night when the Hounds were outshot 38-35. “I’m not sure I can sum the game up any better than that.”
The Hounds trailed 2-0 late in the second period when their comeback began.
Kalvyn Watson got the puck to Bryce McConnell-Barker in the left circle and the Soo captain fired the puck past Robertson low on the short side. McConnell-Barker’s 16th goal, at 18:58, made it 2-1.
Just 55 seconds into the third, Watson notched his 13th on the power play. The Peterborough native, who has six goals in his last three games, took a feed from Kirill Kudryavtsev before beating Robertson on the blocker side from the slot.
Less than four minutes later, Ivanov made a brilliant glove save, thwarting Petrov, who had dangled his way through a series of Hounds to the front of the Soo goal.
Duarte notched his 11th of the season at the 7:56 mark to put the visitors ahead 3-2. Justin Cloutier sped down the right wing and fed Duarte, who used his backhand to direct the puck through Robertson’s legs.
Watson finished with a goal and an assist while Savard contributed a pair of assists.
“Obviously, I’m feeling pure excitement,” Watson said minutes after the game. “It’s pretty awesome when we get the win. We’re just relentless – we don’t give up. We went down two (goals) and we kept fighting back.”
North Bay wasted almost no time, scoring just 12 seconds into the contest. Alexander Lukin won a puck battle behind the Soo goal, got the puck to Liam Arnsby in the corner and Arnsby fed a wide-open Anthony Romani in the left face-off circle.
His quick shot beat Ivanov on the glove-hand side.
The home side made it 2-0 at the 5:15 mark of the middle frame. An errant Soo drop pass in the North Bay zone led to the Battalion getting an odd-man rush. Justin Ertel capped off a beautiful three-way passing play by scoring his ninth goal of the season.
At the end of the 3-on-2, Josh Bloom found Ertel alone in front of Ivanov and the 19-year-old deposited the puck into the yawning cage.
“It’s been about 10 days of getting over hurdles,” said Dean, looking back at a 10-6 loss in Hamilton on Nov. 27, followed by a 4-3 overtime win over Saginaw and a 5-3 decision over Owen Sound – both on home ice. “Quite honestly, I had no doubt Duarte was going to score.”
Following the Oshawa game the Soo visits Owen Sound (2 p.m.) on Sunday.
