Hounds get ‘outworked’ by Battalion
by Peter Ruicci (Independent Media) | Photo by Bob Davies
Disappointed over his club’s performance on Saturday, the head coach of the Soo Greyhounds didn’t mince words.
“We played 40 minutes of very-poor hockey and it caught up with us. They outworked us, outcompeted us and ultimately generated more offence,” said John Dean, minutes after his club had dropped a 6-3 decision to the North Bay Battalion in front of 3,750 at GFL Memorial Gardens. “We got caught up ice quite a bit cheating. They got behind us, stretched us out and ultimately controlled the game for the first 40 minutes.”
After scoring twice early in the third to grab a 3-2 lead, the Hounds surrendered four unanswered goals – including an empty-netter – in a span of 7:53.
“We have to realize we’ve had a great year and when teams come in here, we’re going to get their best,” said Dean, whose club struggled mightily in the opening period. “That’s two games in a row we’ve struggled to move pucks. At the end of the day we can’t be turning over pucks the way we did.”
The Soo also played poorly in Friday’s 4-2 victory over Guelph. But netminder Charlie Schenkel bailed his team out with a brilliant performance.
“We’re definitely disappointed as a group,” added winger Justin Cloutier, whose club fell to 26-12-2-1 and saw its lead atop the West Division cut to two points over second-place Saginaw (26-12-0-1), a 5-2 winner over Guelph on Saturday.
The Spirit also has two games in hand.
“After the trades we made, we expect to see our best hockey of the year,” said Cloutier, who took a slick feed from Gavin Hayes and scored to give his team a 3-2 lead at 4:30 of the third period. “But we haven’t seen that the last two games.”
Hayes, who also made a beautiful pass to set up Brady Martin’s tying goal at 2:44 of the third, spoke of how the Hounds “have to limit mistakes. We have to manage the puck better.”
Once they had grabbed a 3-2 advantage, the Soo had a glorious opportunity to extend the lead.
But, beginning at the 6:54 mark of the final frame, the home side failed to connect on a 5-on-3 power play that lasted for 1:43.
“If they scored there, I thought it was game over,” said Battalion head coach Ryan Oulahen, whose club held a 34-30 edge in shots, while improving to 20-14-5-1. “If they didn’t, I thought we had a chance. When you can get through that, clearly it gave us a spark.”
Was it the turning point in the game?
“Yeah, 100 per cent,” the North Bay coach answered.
Dean agreed.
“That’s a huge turning point,” he said. “We should have been up by two goals. We have to score on the 5-on-3. The guys were probably squeezing their sticks a little bit too much.”
Dean said the Hounds needed to shoot the puck more, rather than trying to set up a perfect play.
“You have to capitalize,” Cloutier said of the 5-on-3 opportunity. “I figure that kill gave them a boost.”
North Bay’s third period comeback began at 10:22 when Justin Ertel’s backhand feed in front resulted in Andrew LeBlanc’s tying goal.
Just over four minutes later, Ertel’s slick feed set up Sandis Vilmanis alone in front. He made a right-to-left move on Schenkel before tucking it in on the glove side.
That made it 4-3.
Owen Van Steensel, from a sharp angle, gave the visitors a 5-3 lead at 15:10 before Dalyn Wakely’s empty-netter, with 1:45 left in regulation, capped the scoring.
Anthony Romani, on the power play, and Tnais Mathurin, on a point shot that beat a screened Schenkel, had the other goals for the winners.
North Bay entered the final frame up 2-1.
Brodie McConnell-Barker, off a backdoor feed from Christopher Brown, was the other Soo shooter to beat Battalion goalie Dom DiVincentiis.
Oulahen called his team’s first period “one of the best periods we’ve played all season. We pressured and created havoc and turnovers.”
He also thought the last 10 minutes of the game “was Battalion hockey.”
Dean, whose club begins a two-game trip on Thursday in Windsor, talked about how a total team effort is necessary for the Hounds to be successful.
“We need 20 guys going and we’ve lost that over the last two games.”
Following the Windsor clash, the Soo is slated to visit Sarnia on Friday.
“A full week of practice should build chemistry,” said Hayes. “And that’ll help get us all on the same page.”