Greyhounds Dean laments ‘mental mistakes’
by Peter Ruicci (Independent Media) | Photo courtesy of Natalie Shaver (OHLImages)
Miscues can be merciless.
Especially early in a hockey game.
Especially for a young club trying to find its way.
A shaky start proved overwhelming for the Soo Greyhounds on Thursday, as the Soo fell into a quick 4-0 hole for the second time in three games this season.
Unable to claw their way out, the Greyhounds wound up dropping a 5-0 decision to the Windsor Spitfires in front of 4,514 at WFCU Centre.
“Big mental breakdown and a goal against. And then, build, build, build, mental breakdown, miscue and a goal against. You can’t spot a team three quick goals, obviously,” said head coach John Dean, whose club fell to 0-3-0-0 after playing the first game of a three-game trip. “We can’t shoot ourselves in the foot with mental mistakes. It makes it difficult to come back.”
“That’s what happens when you have a young team,” added defenceman Andrew Gibson, whose club is set to visit Guelph (7:07 p.m.) on Friday and Sarnia (2:05 p.m.) on Sunday. “We have to clean things up.”
While Hounds defenders blew assignments and gave the Spits too much space, second-year goalie Landon Miller again struggled, surrendered three goals on seven shots. He eventually gave way to Charlie Schenkel.
Miller, who enjoyed a strong rookie season in the OHL and is considered a promising Detroit Red Wings prospect, also lacked sharpness in his first start this season.
“We need guys to step up and make saves when we’re making miscues so we can live to fight another day,” said Dean. “We need a save. We can’t continue to put ourselves behind like that.”
While the scoreboard wasn’t kind to them, the Hounds did generate chances in the opening period.
They outshot the Spitfires 13-11 after 20 minutes.
Gibson spoke of how he doesn’t believe the night “was as bad as it seems. Honestly, there were a lot of positive things you can take from that game. We just have to put the puck in the net.”
When asked how he’ll handle things moving forward, Dean talked of showing players video of some of their mistakes.
He also spoke of not going overboard.
“The emphasis has to be on how good they’re playing when they’re on point and stop shooting yourself in the foot,” the coach continued. “We need to put together stretches where we control play.”
“We have to put together a full 60,” said captain Caeden Carlisle. “We see it in good shifts, little snippets. But we have to have better starts and keep the ball rolling. We have to stick together and build shift after shift.”
The Greyhounds got caught up ice on the first Windsor goal. The Spits went in on a 2-on-1 and Liam Greentree fed A.J. Spellacy on the right wing. The veteran went high to the glove side on Miller and it was 1-0 at 4:06.
Before the period was eight-minutes old, the Soo allowed Ethan Garden to move around freely, before he settled into the slot area. The rebound of Garden’s shot was gobbled up by a falling Nathan Gaymes and he slid the puck home to make it 2-0.
Miller’s night ended four-minutes later. Seconds after Brady Martin rang one off the cross-bar behind netminder Joey Costanzo, Spellacy skated up ice and fed Ilya Protas. The native of Vitebsk, Belarus, beat Miller through the five-hole from the top of the left circle to make it 3-0 at 11:50.
Schenkel replaced Miller, but the home side wasted little time in adding to its lead.
Just 43 seconds into the middle frame, defenceman Tnias Mathurin snuck in from the left point and took a feed from Greentree. Left all alone, Mathurin had the whole net to shoot at and he gave the Spits a four-goal cushion.
Rookie defenceman David Holub was stripped by Gaymes on the fifth Windsor goal. From behind the Hounds net, Gaymes fed a wide-open Jack Nesbitt in the slot. He beat Schenkel early in the third period to cap the scoring, helping Windsor improve to 3-0-1-0.
Overall, Schenkel played well, surrendering just two goals on 25 shots on a night when the Spits held a 32-27 edge in shots.
The overage netminder “came on in relief and kicked really well,” Dean noted.
Asked about the slow start to the season and how he sees his role as captain, Carlisle talked about keeping lines of communication open, keeping everything positive and avoiding any finger pointing.
“Obviously, we have to step it up,” added Gibson. “But we have 65 games left. There’s a lot of season ahead of us.”
Notes:
Marco Mignosa (illness) and Brodie McConnell-Barker (lower-body injury) missed the game. Mignosa is not on the trip and McConnell-Barker, who has started skating on his own, is expected to be out another few weeks.
