Greyhounds bury visiting Generals
by Peter Ruicci (Independent Media) | Photo by Bob Davies
It wasn’t quite a hurricane, but what the Soo Greyhounds unleashed on the Oshawa Generals on Friday would qualify as a Category 4 storm.
Paced by Chase Reid’s brilliant, three-goal, one-assist effort, the Soo ripped the Gens 11-2 in front of 3,817 at GFL Memorial Gardens.
“It’s a great night. The guys deserve to celebrate,” head coach John Dean said of his club’s season-high goals total.
With their shooters locked in – like hungry lions stalking a zebra – the Hounds connected three times with the man advantage and once shorthanded.
They made the night thoroughly forgettable for netminders Isaac Gravelle and Jaden Cholette.
“It’s obviously a lot of fun to score 11 goals,” gushed winger Travis Hayes, who scored twice and set up another as the Hounds improved to 16-10-1-1, heading into Sunday’s 2:07 p.m. home start against Sarnia.
“We want to give our hometown crowd our best effort, and they haven’t seen that from us in terms of results,” Dean added. “But this was pretty cool.”
Disappointed with the lack of finishing touch exhibited by his powerplay this season, the Hounds coach spent the week giving that area extra attention.
“Deaner gave it to us pretty good about the powerplay this week,” said Reid, who registered nine shots on goal and boosted his stat line to an impressive 13-19-32.
A plus-3 on Friday increased his plus-minus to plus-19.
The Soo coach “was very hard on us,” Reid added. “But we were very hard on ourselves.”
The second-year defenceman said the players kept track of their goals in practice throughout the week.
“That definitely helped when it came to picking corners and not just shooting aimlessly,” Reid added. “We were bearing down in front of the net.”
Dean spoke of how assistant coach Brendan Taylor made a “world-class” presentation to the players during the week, pointing out how the club has done well creating a first chance from the slot area.
“But we weren’t doing a good job with the second effort around the paint,” Dean explained. “We discussed how often we’ve been missing the net. That was reflected in our opportunities tonight.”
Three goals in a span of 7:33 in the opening period was all the offence the home side would need.
At 10:26, Colin Fitzgerald found Jeremy Martin all alone in the slot and Martin’s one-timer went low to the stick side on Gravelle.
The home side made it 2-0 five minutes later when Reid went high glove side from the slot.
At 17:59, Hayes sent a well-placed backhander high to Gravelle’s glove side from in front of the net.
That made it 3-0.
Early in the second, Blake Arrowsmith made a slick play when he banged home the carom of a shot that had hit the end boards.
His first goal in a Hounds uniform made it 4-0.
Reid’s first power-play marker was the result of a well-placed shot to the short side at 11:39.
Brady Smith got his first of two just over two minutes later. He also went glove side.
“We were told before the game that (Gravelle) has a pretty-weak glove hand,” said Reid.
Hayes notched his ninth of the season and the Soo skated off up 7-2 through 40 minutes.
Cholette came on in relief but was also treated rudely.
Brady Martin, Reid and Chris Brown, both with the man advantage, and Smith, with a short-handed tally, capped the scoring.
Brown and Brady Martin finished with a goal and an assist each. Marco Mignosa contributed four assists while Fitzgerald and Harris Pangretitsch added a pair each.
Dean called the always-dangerous Reid “the best player on the ice. It wasn’t even close. He’s a world-class talent.”
Hayes offered a prediction, saying: “One-hundred per cent, I think he can go first overall in the (2026) NHL draft.”
While outshot 40-27, Owen Griffin and Leo Laschon were the only Generals to beat Landon Miller.
After watching his team fall to 8-19-0-0, Oshawa head coach Mario Pouliot refused a postgame interview request.
Notes:
The Hounds leading goal-scorer, Jordan Charron, missed the game with an upper-body injury. He’s listed as day-to-day.
Charron owns an 18-8-26 stat line.
