Erie erupts early, blanks Greyhounds
by Peter Ruicci (Independent Media) | Photo by Bob Davies
FULL PHOTO GALLERY | GAME HIGHLIGHTS | GAME CENTRE
Hard for the Soo Greyhounds to explain?
Certainly.
Hard to swallow?
Definitely.
The Erie Otters scored five times in the opening period on Wednesday, got strong netminding from Liam Karbowski, and went on to blank the Hounds 7-0 in front of 3,075 at GFL Memorial Gardens.
“At the end of the day, there’s no excuse for that kind of performance,” said Soo head coach Drew Bannister, whose team has dropped five of its last six. “That was beyond embarrassing. The first period is embarrassing and from that point on, it’s damage control.”
“We simply weren’t good enough,” added overage defenceman Spencer Evans, whose club will take a 10-6-2-0 record into Friday’s 7:05 p.m. start in Sudbury (11-4-1-0). “We got out-worked, we got outskated, we didn’t play within our systems. One-hundred per-cent this was embarrassing. That was by far our worst game of the season.”
The Hounds previous four losses were all by a single goal, including last Sunday’s overtime setback at the hands of the London Knights.
This was easily their most one-sided defeat this season and marked the second time they’ve been shut out over the last two weeks.
“It’s never good to lose 7-0,” shrugged Hounds captain Travis Hayes. “They capitalized on their opportunities to score and we gave them enough chances.”
“We were shooting ourselves in the foot tonight,” added centre Quinn McKenzie.
Asked about what was a humbling first period, Hayes pulled no punches.
“By far, that was our worst period of the season,” he said. “You just can’t start like that. It’s hard to come back from five goals.”
McKenzie spoke of how the Greyhounds weren’t connected over the first 20 minutes.
“We made too many mistakes in the opening period,” he said.
“There were times and areas where we lacked effort,” Bannister added. “There were some bad turnovers. We lost a lot of puck battles and we were soft on pucks. I can’t do anything about that. Guys have to go home and look in the mirror.”
After McKenzie was whistled for tripping just 54 seconds in, the Otters wasted little time getting started, notching a power-play tally at 1:46.
Michael Dec’s shot was blocked in front by Charlie Ashcroft, before Evan Headrick grabbed the rebound and beat David Vermirovsky low on the glove side.
“We take a penalty early on and it winds up in the back of our net. Not good,” lamented Bannister.
Headrick scored again just over two minutes later. The Garden River First Nations product skated in on a 2-on-2 and went high blocker side for his fourth goal of the season.
Midway through the period, Kayden Edwards shot through traffic from the slot hit the blocker of Vermirovsky, and entered the Soo goal to make it 3-0.
The Greyhounds gave the Otters too much room on the fourth Erie goal. Ty Henry found Liam Beamish all alone in front and the visitors led 4-0 at 16:41.
Before the period ended, Luka Arkko slipped around a check along the right wing boards before going low to the glove side at 18:32.
Bannister said he knew he was going to pull Vermirovsky with the score 4-0, but decided to wait until the start of the second period so backup William Camputaro could warm up during intermission.
Asked if his club could have used a save or two from Vermirovsky, Bannister agreed.
“The last three goals of the first period, we could have stood a save,” he said. “There were some goals for both goalies where you expected a save.”
Camputaro replaced Vermirovsky after 20 minutes and settled things down for the home side.
But the Otters got their sixth tally just 21 seconds into the final frame. A turnover allowed Arkko to fire home his seventh of the season.
Lucas Ambrosio connected late to cap the scoring.
Besides Headrick’s two goals, Arkko contributed two goals and an assist while Beamish had a goal and two helpers. Edwards contributed a goal and an assist and Mclean Agrette added two assists.
Asked if the first period was his club’s best this season, Otters head coach Kris Mallette said: “It’s up there. We’ve had a couple of good ones. It’s our most rewarding statistically this season.”
Mallette also spoke of how Headrick’s return home sparked his Erie teammates, who wanted to play well for him.
“The guys were so excited for Evan,” the coach added. “Our group is really, really tight and that motivated them.”
Bannister said his team appeared tired.
For that reason, he’ll keep his charges off the ice on Thursday.
Following the Sudbury clash on Friday, the Soo returns home to play host to Barrie on Saturday (7:07 p.m.).
