Greyhounds implode, but choose to look forward
by Peter Ruicci (Independent Media) | Photo by Bob Davies
They blew a 5-1 lead on Friday, surrendering five unanswered goals – including the overtime winner.
But instead of bemoaning a 6-5 OT loss to Kingston in front of 3,819 at GFL Memorial Gardens, the Soo Greyhounds are choosing a big-picture approach.
With Guelph, fighting the Hounds for a Western Conference playoff spot, in town Saturday (7:07 p.m. start), the players and head coach John Dean are determined to focus on the positives.
“It sucks,” veteran winger Marco Mignosa said of Friday’s collapse. “It’s tough to lose, but we have quite a few positives to take from that game.”
“Obviously, that’s not the result we wanted,” said newcomer Brady T. (as in Thornton) Smith, who scored twice in his Greyhounds debut.
Smith was acquired from Oshawa on Tuesday as the centerpiece in the Andrew Gibson trade.
“For sure, it’s disappointing,” the 16-year-old (2008 birth year) added. “But we were good within our structure and we came ready to play in the first and second periods.”
Indeed.
The Hounds were dominant through 40 minutes, controlling much of the play while opening a 5-2 lead and outshooting the Frontenacs 31-13.
But a Kingston goal at 19:58 of the middle frame cut into what had been a 5-1 Hounds advantage.
It sparked the Fronts, who eventually won the game when Emil Pieniniemi skated in alone and beat Nolan Lalonde on the glove side at 3:28 of overtime.
“I’m not saying I’m excited about blowing a 5-1 lead, but I’m really excited about the way we played,” said Hounds head coach John Dean, whose club fell to 16-22-1-0, good for eighth place in the conference, four points better than Guelph (12-22-4-1) and Owen Sound (12-22-2-3).
Those clubs, tied for ninth place, were both winners on Friday.
“There are maturity issues and our older guys need to be better,” Dean said about what is now an even-younger Soo club. “But considering the way our year has gone, there are too many positives to focus on with this team.”
The coach also spoke of how his squad has a “big game tomorrow (Saturday), and we’re not going to sit and dwell on this loss. We put together a real good 40 or 50 minutes.”
On the OT goal, rookie rearguard Chase Reid sent the puck up the boards, intending to connect with Justin Cloutier. But the feed was intercepted, and Cedrick Guindon found a streaking Pieniniemi, who had out-raced a retreating Cloutier.
Dean said Cloutier was at the end of a shift, but “there was an opportunity for him to get better body position. That’s the nature of overtime hockey and I’m not knocking (Cloutier) at all.”
Trailing 5-1 just before the second period ended, a Soo turnover at the Kingston blue-line led to Ethan Miedema beating Nolan Lalonde on a breakaway.
Lalonde, along with three draft picks, were acquired from Kingston on Thursday in exchange for fellow netminder Charlie Schenkel.
Schenkel started against his former teammates, but was pulled after 40 minutes in order to allow for rest before he faces Sudbury on Sunday.
“I hated that goal at the end of the second,” Dean said. “That can’t happen. That’s unacceptable.”
“That goal to end the second was real critical,” said Kingston bench boss Troy Mann, who watched his team improve to 21-10-5-2. “For the better part of two periods we were skating in quicksand. But we’ve been a resilient team in terms of fighting back this season.”
In the third, Kingston scored twice in 28 seconds and three times in 2:56 to tie the game 5-5.
Tuomas Uronen beat Lalonde on a wrister through traffic at 11:18 before Miedema connected on a redirection at 11:46.
Adam Kelly’s shot, from just above the left circle, eluded Lalonde at 14:14 to tie the contest.
Brady T. Smith opened the scoring just 7:18 in.
Brady R. Smith took the initial shot and Brady T. banged home the rebound.
The home side made it 2-0 just 1:55 later, when Owen Allard banged a rebound past Schenkel.
Ethan Hay beat his man to the net and had a tap-in on Lalonde to make it 2-1 at 3:24 of the middle frame.
But the Hounds bounced back with two goals in 41 seconds. Reid made a beautiful feed to a streaking Mignosa and the talented veteran notched his 16th goal (in just 29 games) at 9:08.
The home side made it 4-1 on the power play when Christopher Brown fed Noel Nordh in front for his ninth goal in 19 games.
The lead grew to 5-1 when Brady T. Smith banged home his own rebound for a power-play marker at 16:09 of the second.
Prior to the opening face-off, Sault fans serenaded Schenkel with a familiar ‘Charlie, Charlie, Charlie’ chant. And the team played a short video, featuring Schenkel, on the overhead board after the first whistle.
Dean said it was “so cool” to hear the fans reaction to seeing Schenkel in a visiting uniform for the first time.
As for the Guelph game, Mignosa spoke of how Dean, in a post-game address, implored his players to “still be frustrated over tonight’s game, but bring that frustration into the Guelph game.”
Mignosa, who had a goal and an assist on Friday, called the clash “huge,” saying: “They’re chasing us and we’re determined to play a full 60 minutes against them.”
Reid and Brown contributed two assists each on a night when the home side held a 38-26 edge in shots.
Brady Martin added an assist. He and Brown were returning to the lineup after being sidelined with injuries.
Notes:
Smith’s parents, Tara Thornton and Kevin Smith, were in attendance to see their son’s first two Soo goals.
