Hounds fall in Game 7
by Peter Ruicci (Independent Media) | Photo by Natalie Shaver
Playoff hockey isn’t only cruel when a memorable season suddenly ends.
It can be downright brutal.
The Soo Greyhounds can attest to that.
After staving off elimination with a dominant 5-0 win at home in Game 6 on Sunday, the Hounds turned in a sub-par showing in Game 7 in Saginaw on Tuesday.
Despite the brilliant netminding of Charlie Schenkel, who did all he could to keep his team alive, the Soo dropped a 3-1 decision to the Spirit in front of 5,064 at the Dow Event Center.
“It hurts. It hurts real bad,” said Hounds winger Gavin Hayes, whose club was seeking a spot in the Western Conference final against the London Knights.
Instead, after winning this best-of-seven series 4-3, the Spirit travel to London for the opening game on Friday.
“We found our groove too late. We had trouble generating in the third period,” added Hayes, who scored the Soo’s lone goal, his fourth of the series and seventh of the postseason.
“It was very devastating. There were lots of tears,” added defenceman Andrew Gibson, a playoff standout, whose club was determined to see a 95-point regular season (45-18-3-2) lead into the Hounds first conference final since 2017-2018. “It was a tough way to end the season, especially with a group like this.”
A subdued John Dean praised his club for its character – on and off the ice.
But the Hounds coach admitted: “Clearly we struggled. There’s no doubt they carried the play.”
He also explained how the Hounds coaches thought “we were playing not to lose, instead of playing to win.”
Sault native Calem Mangone scored his second game-winner and fifth goal of the series, giving Saginaw a 2-1 lead at 9:24 of the third period.
It came on a night when the Hounds were outshot by a wide margin, 34-17, and had just five shots over the game’s first 35 minutes. They came on strong late in the second period.
However, tied 1-1 after 40 minutes, they also were outshot 14-5 over the decisive final frame.
Schenkel made numerous big saves, especially on Joey Willis in the first period and a number of Spirit shooters in the third.
“Charlie gave us a chance to win a game,” said Dean. “We tie it up 1-1, albeit on a tough night for us and Charlie’s standing on his head. It felt a bit like it was our destiny to win. But for whatever reason, in the third period we didn’t have the push we thought we would. Game 7’s are a different beast.”
While disappointed with the outcome, Dean spoke glowingly of his players.
“This is a very, very special team, probably more for who they are off the ice than on it,” the coach added. “How much they loved the community and embraced Sault Ste. Marie and how much they loved each other. Walking out of here tonight, I don’t think there’s a lot of regret in that dressing room in terms of compete, effort, tenacity and will to win.”
“We were brothers, not only on the ice, but off of it,” added Gibson, a Detroit Red Wings prospect. “Outside of the rink, we were always doing things together. This was one of the most enjoyable years I’ve ever had in my life.”
Hayes, acquired just prior to the trade deadline, lauded his teammates for the way in which they welcomed him.
“With open arms,” he said. “Everyone is super close. It was probably one of the best teams I’ve ever been a part of.”
Willis opened the scoring at 10:17 of the opening period. From the right circle, Will Bishop made a perfect pass to Willis in front and he slid it home.
Hayes tied it at 15:10 of the middle stanza. Arttu Karki didn’t get much on a point shot, but Hayes, with his back to the net, batted the bouncing puck past Nolan Lalonde on the glove side.
Leading up to Mangone’s third period winner, Michael Misa lifted Karki’s stick and grabbed the puck behind the Soo goal. He fed Mangone in front and the veteran winger went stick side on Schenkel to make it 2-1.
Later, with Schenkel on the bench for an extra attacker, Matyas Sapovaliv’s clearing attempt went down the ice and into the goal for an empty-net marker at the 19:00 mark.
“The coaches talked to us after the game about keeping our heads high,” Hayes noted. “We gave it all we had.”
Notes:
The Soo was without centre Owen Allard (upper-body injury). Allard was injured late in the second period of Game 6 on Sunday, but said after the game he felt he’d be okay moving forward.
The Spirit captain, Braden Hache, returned for Game 7. The defenceman served a two-game suspension for slew-footing in Game 4.
Saginaw played minus rearguards Zayne Parekh (undisclosed injury) and James Guo, who was hit with an indefinite suspension after being whistled for a five-minute major for slashing in Game 6.
The Spirit was also without Garden River winger Lincoln Moore (healthy scratch) and netminder Andrew Oke, who suffered an upper-body injury following a collision with Bryce McConnell-Barker in Game 2 of this series.