Dynamite D’Intino dusts Firebirds
by Peter Ruicci (Independent Media) | Photo by Natalie Shaver (OHLImages)
As much as a wave needs water and blood relies on oxygen, successful OHL teams require big-time production from their overage skaters.
Jordan D’Intino certainly delivered on Saturday, scoring his first career hat trick and assisting on two others – part of a career-high, five-point night – to power the Soo Greyhounds to a 7-3 victory over the Flint Firebirds in front of 4,285 at Dort Financial Center.
The 20-year-old (2003 birth year) London, Ont., native broke open what had been a narrow 4-3 Hounds advantage by scoring late in the second period and early in the third.
“It’s great. This feels amazing,” said D’Intino, a six-foot-two, 190-pounder. “I’ve been working my rear end off and it all came together tonight.”
“He had an incredible hockey game for us,” added Hounds head coach John Dean, whose club had an up-and-down first 40 minutes, but found a way to prevail. “His gift is his shot – it’s an absolute weapon. When he’s engaged and moving his feet, and he gets opportunities to shoot the puck, he’ll put a lot of them in the net.”
D’Intino, taken in the fourth round of the 2019 OHL draft, has played a key role in the Greyhounds 4-1-0-0 start, notching a team-high five goals to go along with three assists.
“I’m so happy for Dino,” said winger Justin Cloutier, who also shone with a pair of goals and an assist. “He works so hard and to see him rewarded like that is awesome.”
D’Intino began to hit his stride as an OHL player during the second half of the 2022-2023 season, becoming a solid, reliable winger who can score, while finishing with a 24-18-42 stat line in 68 games.
He said he believes he’s “going to be a big-time scorer for us this season. That’s the goal.”
Dean has no doubt, adding: “There are high expectations. He’s a guy we expect to score.”
The fact D’Intino’s father, Mike, was in attendance Saturday, made the feat extra special.
“It’s rewarding,” D’Intino said of the five-point night. “But it’s good to get the win. It’s all about the team.”
With the clubs locked in a 3-3 tie, Cloutier put the visitors in front to stay at 13:40 of the second period. Netting his first of two goals, Cloutier converted a beautiful, 2-on-1 saucer pass by Owen Allard, beating a sprawling Nathan Day on the blocker side.
With the Hounds on the power-play four-minutes later, Allard saw a streaking D’Intino and found him with a cross-ice, backdoor feed. The third-year man scored on a one-timer to make it 5-3.
Then, just 39 seconds into the final frame, D’Intino, on a feed from Bryce McConnell-Barker, beat Day from in tight to complete his hat trick. The Flint goalie got a piece of the shot, but it trickled through on the blocker side to make it 6-3.
Cloutier’s impressive short-handed goal, two minutes later, wrapped things up.
Determined to bounce back from a disappointing 7-4 setback in Sarnia on Friday, the Hounds were certainly less than dominant early in Flint.
Cloutier admitted the team was sloppy at times.
The coach took it a step further.
“That was a very-sloppy 40 minutes, if we’re being realistic with ourselves,” said Dean, whose club ripped Flint 11-3 in the season opener but was outshot 17-10 in the first period on Saturday and 30-27 overall. “We gave up way too much. But we did get better as the game went on.”
The visitors opened leads of 1-0, 2-1 and 3-2, permitting the Firebirds to tie the score in each instance. Dean credited rookie netminder Landon Miller, who recorded his first OHL victory, for holding things together until the Hounds could get things turned around.
The coach went on to say he’s happy with the victory “but we have to clean up some things.”
“The biggest thing for us is that we had to take it out on somebody,” said Cloutier, looking back at Friday’s poor performance. “We’re not going to lose a game in Sarnia like that. It was necessary we had to have this win. That’s our mind set.”
D’Intino’s first goal snapped a 1-1 tie midway through the opening period. Jack Beck dumped the puck cross-ice into the corner and D’Intino retrieved it before beating Day on the backhand.
Allard and Beck contributed three assists each for the winners while McConnell-Barker finished with a goal and an assist. Arttu Karki, with a slick one-timer on a feed from Beck, notched his third goal of the season.
Kaden Pitre, Matthew Wang and Jeremy Martin, on a breakaway, handled the scoring for Flint, now 0-3-0-0 on the season and 0-1 under new head coach Paul Flache. He replaced Ted Dent, who was fired on Friday.
The Hounds enjoy a day off on Sunday, before completing their three-game trip with a Monday clash in Windsor (2:07 p.m.).
