Greyhounds to face Guelph beginning Thursday
by Peter Ruicci (Independent Media) | Photo by Bob Davies
Sunday’s game was over in the first period. The rest of the time was spent simply determining the final score.
While the Soo Greyhounds had nothing to play for in the regular season finale, the Saginaw Spirit began the day with a chance to improve its playoff seeding.
The Spirit opened a 5-0 first period lead and wound up skating to a penalty-filled, 9-2 victory over the Hounds in front of 4,613 at GFL Memorial Gardens.
“The game meant nothing and we move on,” said Hounds head coach John Dean, whose team finished the regular season in second place in the West Division and third in the Western Conference with a 45-18-3-2 mark.
“The season is over now,” added winger Marco Mignosa, whose club will face the Guelph Storm in the first round of the playoffs. “The game didn’t mean anything, but we still had a great team effort despite who was out of the lineup.”
Locked in as the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference, the Hounds chose to rest veterans Bryce McConnell-Barker, Jack Beck, Kirill Kudryavtsev and Gavin Hayes.
When it came to effort, Dean echoed Mignosa’s words.
Asked about his club’s shortcomings on Sunday, the coach spoke of how “all I want to do is evaluate my team’s competitive level and I’m very good with it. I think we know we want some of those goals back, but it’s pretty obvious how hard this team works.”
To that end, the coach saluted Sault fans, who chanted ‘Go Hounds go’ late in Sunday’s contest.
The Greyhounds work ethic, Dean said, was obvious considering “the way the fans embraced them over the last 45 seconds. People know the identity of our hockey club.”
By making it eight straight games won by the road team in the head-to-head series with the Soo, Saginaw improved to 50-16-1-1 in its regular season finale.
Later in the day, the Soo learned the identity of its first-round playoff opponent. London (50-14-1-3) stopped Guelph (33-28-6-1) 3-0 to both clinch top spot in the conference and relegate the Storm to sixth place.
Guelph and the Soo begin the best-of-seven, first-round series with games Thursday and Saturday (both at 7:07 p.m.) at GFL Memorial Gardens.
Games 3-4 are slated for the following Monday and Wednesday, Apr. 1 and Apr. 3, both in Guelph beginning at 6:30 p.m.
If a fifth clash is needed, it would be played on Apr. 5 (7:07 p.m.) in the Sault.
Game 6, if required, is slated for Apr. 7 (6:30 p.m.) in Guelph.
And should the series go the distance, Game 7 is scheduled for GFL Memorial Gardens on Apr. 9 (7:07 p.m.).
Saginaw, the No. 2 seed, is set to face Owen Sound in the opening round of postseason play while London takes on Flint and Kitchener meets Erie.
Quickly setting aside Sunday’s contest, Mignosa spoke of how “this is the year for our group. This team is so tight and we’re super excited to play here at home in the playoffs and try to go get a championship.”
“This is super exciting after not making the playoffs last year,” added Kudryavtsev. “I think we have a great team.”
Dean said he’s anxious for the calendar to flip to Thursday.
“We’re beyond excited,” he began. “This team has shown what kind of core values we have. We’re determined, competitive and relentless. I can’t wait to be behind the bench and watch what they’re going to do in the playoffs.”
Meantime, with the Greyhounds unable to clear the puck, the Spirit opened the scoring at 7:26 of the opening frame. P.J. Forgione’s shot through traffic from the left point beat Landon Miller on the glove side.
The visitors made it 2-0 three minutes later as the Soo failed to gain possession in its own zone. Sebastian Gervais found Nic Sima in front. He banged it home through the five-hole.
At 11:37, Rodwin Dionicio walked past a pair of Greyhounds, skated down the right side and beat Miller up high on the short side.
Charlie Schenkel replaced Miller at that point.
But just over two minutes later on the power play, Owen Beck beat Schenkel on the short side to make it 4-0.
And the visitors made it five goals in 7:27 when Josh Bloom connected on a 5-on-3 power play at 14:53.
That made it five goals on eight shots for the Spirit.
Miller returned to begin the second period and stayed in the rest of the way.
Gervais, Alex Christopoulos, Michael Misa and Zayne Parekh had the other goals for the winners, who held a 23-14 edge in shots. Dionicio and Gervais both finished with a goal and two assists. Garden River’s Lincoln Moore also contributed two assists.
Mignosa, on the power play, and Arttu Karki were the only Hounds shooters to beat Andrew Oke. Karki finished with a goal and an assist.
“At the end of the day, no injuries, no suspensions, that’s what I wanted,” said Spirit bench boss Chris Lazary. “We wanted to get out of here injury free, suspension free and hopefully pick up two points.”
“We’ll have another opportunity to play this team and we can’t wait,” Dean noted.
Meantime, defenceman Caeden Carlisle was assessed a five-minute major for cross-checking and a game misconduct at 11:55 of the opening period.
Dean said he’d be “shocked” if the league imposed supplemental punishment. “(The play) looked fine to me.”
Asked about the officiating, the coach said he “thought it was an extremely mismanaged game. That made the day even tougher on our guys.”