Hounds are No. 3 seed, begin playoffs Thursday
by Peter Ruicci (Independent Media) | Photo by Bob Davies
Pieces in the OHL playoff puzzle began to come together for the Soo Greyhounds on Friday.
On a night when the Hounds enjoyed a rocket start, en route to a 4-2 victory over Flint in front of 4,232 at GFL Memorial Gardens, they also learned they’ll be the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference postseason.
“Our guys showed absolute dominance in the first period,” said head coach John Dean.
However, while the Soo improved to 45-17-3-2, Saginaw stopped Sarnia 4-2 to clinch first place in the West Division with a 48-16-1-1 mark.
The Spirit, with two regular season games remaining, is four points back of London in the race for top spot in the conference. Saginaw is here Sunday afternoon for a 2:07 p.m. start.
The Knights, with a single game remaining, improved to 49-14-1-3 with a 4-3 victory over Windsor on Friday.
By finishing third in the conference, the Hounds will face the No. 6 seed, either Guelph or Erie, in the first round of the playoffs.
Asked if he had a preference, Dean offered the obligatory “No.”
The first two games in the best-of-seven series will be played Thursday and Saturday of next week at GFL Memorial Gardens.
The Soo will play Games 3-4 on the road, the following Monday and Wednesday. As of Friday night, game times, and the remainder of the first-round dates, had not been revealed.
“Line after line, wave after wave, we came at them,” defenceman Caeden Carlisle said of his team’s start, which resulted in a 3-0 lead over Flint after one period. “We were hunting pucks. We came out very tenacious and hungry.”
“Obviously, that was the start we wanted,” added winger Jordan D’Intino, whose club held the Firebirds to a mere three shots through the first 30 minutes of play. “We really wanted to use the net in the O-zone, cycle the puck and come through the neutral zone with speed.”
Neutral-zone play was one of the things Dean loved early on.
“I thought we really moved the puck well in the neutral zone in the first period,” the coach added. “Our D did a fantastic job of finding sticks and playing fast.”
However, once the home team had a three-goal lead, its play began to drop off.
While the coach said he “didn’t mind” how his club played in the middle frame, he said the Hounds began to overpass at times.
“We didn’t generate enough in the second period,” Dean added.
As for the third, the Soo’s bench boss spoke of how he “didn’t love our first 10 (minutes) and really liked our second 10.”
D’Intino, who notched his 20th goal, called it a “weird game,” noting how the Hounds had little on the line and are beginning to gear up for the postseason.
“It was meaningless in the standings,” added Carlisle. “But we worked on some new things today that we’re trying to implement for the playoffs.”
On a night when they had just seven shots through two periods and were outshot 23-17 overall, the Firebirds drew to within 3-2 in the final frame.
That’s when Oliver Peer, with goalie Jacob Brown on the bench for a sixth attacker, found himself all alone on the right side of the Hounds net. He directed a feed from Nolan Dann past Charlie Schenkel, who had no chance, at the 17:52 mark.
D’Intino wrapped things up with an empty-net marker with 8.3 seconds remaining.
Flint head coach Paul Flache spoke of how the Greyhounds “came out very well. They took it to us pretty good. But I liked our pushback in the second and third.”
Asked specifically what positives he saw after the opening 20 minutes, Flache, whose club fell to 30-32-4-1, said the Firebirds were “more competitive and managed the puck a little bit better.”
The Greyhounds wasted little time on Friday. Just 40 seconds in, Jack Beck took a slick feed from Arttu Karki, skated in and slipped the puck through the five-hole on Brown.
The home side made it 2-0 just under 12 minutes later. D’Intino took the puck to the net, had it knocked off his stick and Justin Cloutier picked it up. The Ottawa native spun and fired, beating Brown high to the glove side.
The Soo took a three-goal advantage at 16:53 of the first when rookie Tate Vader deposited his own rebound, scoring low on the blocker side.
Flint finally scored late in the second period, cashing in on a three-way passing play. Simon Slavicek found Tristan Bertucci all alone at the side of the Hounds goal and Bertucci beat Schenkel on the blocker side to make it 3-1.
D’Intino finished the game with a goal and an assist while Karki had a pair of helpers.
Notes:
The Hounds chose to sit veterans Bryce McConnell-Barker and Jacob Frasca on Friday. Dean also said three veterans would rest on Sunday against Saginaw. When asked, he said he hadn’t decided who would sit out.
