Hounds fall after failing to finish
by Peter Ruicci (Independent Media) | Photo by Bob Davies
PHOTO GALLERY | GAME HIGHLIGHTS
Nighttime, daytime, bedtime, overtime, anytime.
The Soo Greyhounds just needed to score on Friday.
“We had crappy luck,” said overage Marco Mignosa, minutes after his club dropped a 4-2 decision to the Guelph Storm in front of 3,832 at GFL Memorial Gardens.
The Soo’s lack of finish was best expressed – painfully – by the five occasions when they rang shots off the goalpost.
“If we put our chances in, it’s a whole different outcome,” added Mignosa, whose club outshot the visitors 30-18 and surely out-chanced them.
But Guelph scored twice in the second period to take a 3-1 lead into the final frame.
“That’s the best game we’ve played all season long, other than the result,” said Hounds head coach John Dean, whose club dropped its second straight, falling to 11-8-1-0 heading into Saturday’s 7:07 p.m. home start against Barrie. “Our boys deserved a lot better than that, based on chance generation, chances against, zone time, you name it. I’m gutted for them. But we have to score.”
Mignosa agreed it was the Soo’s best game this season.
“Nothing went in for us,” he added. “But if we play like that for 68 games, we’ll do pretty well.”
Count centre Christopher Brown among those who also thought the home side deserved a better fate.
“We had a lot of opportunities to put the game away,” Brown said. “I thought we played a great game and did a lot of things right.”
However, as was the case on Wednesday, when the Hounds were also unable to convert chances en route to a 3-2 loss to Flint, troublesome mistakes led to opposition goals.
Dean made reference to “three major gaffes,” which led to the first three Storm tallies, but added: “It’s junior hockey and there are going to be mistakes. Unfortunately, they happened in the same game.”
Netminder Zachary Jovanovski was outstanding for the winners, drawing praise from head coach Cory Stillman.
“He’s made big saves when we’ve needed them,” said Stillman. “He stole the game.”
But the play of Jovanovski was one of the few things Stillman liked on Friday.
“We were very lucky to win tonight,” added the coach, whose club won its third straight, improving to 9-6-2-0. “They were the better team. They worked, they skated. It was just luck for us tonight.”
With the score tied 1-1 in the second period, Guelph’s Grant Spada was handed a match penalty for cross-checking Hounds winger Travis Hayes.
But the five-minute powerplay proved fruitless for the home side.
“Our powerplay has to be a lot better,” said Brown.
“It’s frustrating. We wanted to score two,” added Mignosa. “If we score, that’s the turning point.”
“That was the hockey game,” Stillman said of his team’s successful effort while facing five minutes shorthanded.
After the successful kill, two Hounds defenders let the puck get away from them in the corner. Guelph’s Chris Soares pounced on it and fed a wide-open Noah Jenken in front.
Her beat Noah Tegelaar on the blocker side to make it 2-1 at 12:26.
Less than five-minutes later, a bad pass by Spencer Evans resulted in a quick transition opportunity for the Storm. Ethan Miedema skated in on a breakaway and beat Tegelaar through the five hole. That made it 3-1.
The Hounds trimmed it to 3-2 when Jeremy Martin redirected a Chase Reid feed in front at 7:28 of the third.
But Quinn Beauchesne capped the scoring with an empty-net goal at 18:55.
Hunter McKenzie, following a giveaway by Hunter Solomon, opened the scoring for Guelph at 8:53 of the first period.
The Soo tied it 1-1 early in the second when Noah Laus made a slick feed to Quinn McKenzie. The first-year centre skated in and beat Jovanovski low to the glove side.
While finishing 0-for-2 with the man advantage, the Hounds killed off all five Guelph power plays and generated some excellent scoring chances while skating shorthanded.
Dean credited the Storm for its performance and, heading into the Barrie game, said he would challenge his players to find out who they are.
“We believe in what we’re doing. The formula is there for us. But we have to limit mistakes,” he added. “The gaffes can’t be that big.”
