Hounds fail to hang on, but Dean praises effort
by Peter Ruicci (Independent Media) | Photo by Bob Davies
FULL PHOTO GALLERY | VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS
The way the head coach of the Soo Greyhounds sees it, maximum effort takes a lot of the sting out of a disappointing setback.
“Anytime your team leaves it all on the ice, I’ve got no problem,” said John Dean, whose club blew a 4-1 lead on Wednesday, eventually losing 5-4 to the Kitchener Rangers.
The outcome wasn’t determined until Round 15 – that’s right, 15 – of a shootout in front of 3,421 at GFL Memorial Gardens.
“I really appreciated the effort by the guys. I thought it was fantastic,” added Dean, whose team received a stellar performance from netminder Nolan Lalonde – especially in overtime and the shootout. “We competed our butts off and just got a point against the No. 3 team in the Canadian Hockey League.”
“I think we should have won,” said centre Brady Martin, who was outstanding with a pair of goals and an assist. “But they’re a good team and they had a good push. And sometimes the puck doesn’t go your way.”
Winger Noel Nordh admitted it was tough losing Wednesday’s contest. But he also stressed the positive.
“We played a good game for 60 minutes,” said the 20-year-old (2005 birth year) winger, whose club is set to entertain Brantford on Friday at 7:07 p.m. “But we didn’t get any breaks.”
On a night when the visitors held a 44-24 edge in shots, Chris Grisolia finally ended the marathon shootout going high blocker side on Lalonde.
It was the Rangers third shootout goal while the only Hounds to beat rookie netminder Jason Schaubel were Justin Cloutier and Brady R. Smith.
Not only did the Soo lose the game, falling to 19-25-1-1, they may have also lost the services of centre Owen Allard. The overage was on the receiving end of a thundering check by Kitchener’s Max Dirracolo about 2:30 into the second period.
No penalty was called, Allard left the ice and didn’t return.
When asked about the extent of the injury, Dean said after the game he didn’t yet have a medical report.
Allard did suffer a concussion earlier in the season and missed significant time.
Dean wouldn’t say he disagreed with the no-call, but did say the play is “something that should be looked at (by the OHL).”
The game began to unravel for the Hounds, who had a 4-1 lead at that point, late in the second period. They lost structure in the defensive zone and Andrew Vermeulen was all alone at the left side of the goal. Matthew Hlacar got inside and when Vermeulen sent the puck towards the net, it deflected off of Hlacar and past Lalonde.
“We can’t let that goal go in late in the second period,” Dean lamented.
The scoring play drew the visitors to within 4-2 with 28.9 seconds remaining.
Jack Pridham made it 4-3 on the power play with a redirection at 8:25 of the third period. Seven-minutes later, Lucas Romano tied the contest with his team’s third redirection goal.
In OT, Lalonde stopped Pridham twice and Romano twice – all in tight.
“Lalonde was amazing tonight. He kept us in, kudos to him,” said Martin. “We should have won the shootout for him.”
Dean couldn’t say enough about the veteran netminder.
“He was incredible. Unbelievable in the overtime and unbelievable in the shootout,” the Soo coach added.
“The good thing about our team is we don’t quit,” said Rangers bench boss Jussi Ahokas, whose club improved to 34-9-3-1. “Coming back from 4-1 to 4-4, we’re really pleased.”
The Kitchener coach also praised both Lalonde and Schaubel for their impressive efforts.
With the home team holding a 2-1 lead in the second period, Martin scored back-to-back goals on one-timers in a span of 1:39.
On the power play, Chase Reid found Martin at the top of the left circle and the Elmira, Ont., product ripped a shot that beat Schaubel high to the stick side. That made it 3-1 at the 8:01 mark.
At 9:40, Marco Mignosa hit Martin with a cross-ice feed and the second-year centre scored on the stick side, firing from the dot in the left circle. Martin’s 18th of the season made it 4-1.
Allard, on the power play, and Mignosa, shorthanded, had the other Soo tallies. Mignosa contributed a goal and two assists and has 19 goals on the season. Rearguard Chase Reid had three assists.
Cameron Reid, on the power play, had the other Rangers goal.
Garden River’s Evan Headrick played his first OHL game in the Sault. Headrick, a Rangers winger and first-round draft choice last April, has missed most of the season with a wrist injury.