Hounds humble Petes in trip opener
by Peter Ruicci (Independent Media) | Photo by Kenneth Andersen Photography)
Is there a more convincing way to open an Eastern road trip against the defending OHL champions?
“I think we controlled the game. I’m very happy with all aspects,” said head coach John Dean, minutes after his Soo Greyhounds blanked the Peterborough Petes 4-0 Thursday afternoon, in front of a school-day crowd of 3,805 at Peterborough Memorial Centre. “For our guys to stick to it defensively and be patient until we finally put a couple in the net was really good to see.”
“Thought we were really solid,” added overage winger Jack Beck, who contributed a goal and an assist as the Soo improved to 6-3-0-0 heading into Kingston for a 7 p.m. Friday tilt. “No game is perfect, but for the most part we were good. We got better getting to the front of the net. That had been a big problem for us.”
Sparked by Arttu Karki’s two goals – up to eight in just nine games – and Charlie Schenkel’s shutout netminding, the Hounds snapped a two-game losing skid that saw them score just once last weekend in falling 2-1 to Ottawa and 4-0 at the hands of Owen Sound.
Dean spoke of how he “loved” the way his club began the game, while also lauding his players for the fact they “played with speed, got pucks to the net, stayed inside our structure and didn’t overpass the puck. Defensively, we got back into our spots and limited a team that, historically, gets a lot of shots in their barn.”
The visitors outshot the Petes 41-31, including an impressive 20-6 in the middle frame.
Asked if he was determined to bounce back after struggling in both games last weekend, Schenkel said he brings the same approach to every game.
“I just try to give my all and give my team the best chance to win,” added the Ottawa native, who posted his third career shutout.
For the most part, the Hounds defence forced the Petes to a perimeter game. Schenkel credited the guys in front of him for that – and more.
“I felt confident and confident in our group. They were blocking shots for me,” the veteran goalie added. “We all go to war for each other with the same goal.”
“Charlie was great,” said Dean, whose club wraps up its trip on Sunday (2 p.m.) in Ottawa. “He looked like he might have been fighting it in the first period, but he settled right in and made a monster save for us late.”
Karki, with his league-leading fifth power-play goal, got the visitors started at 6:25 of the second period. Marco Mignosa made a slick back-door feed and Karki, in his familiar spot on the right side of the goal, deposited a one-timer past Liam Sztuska for a 1-0 lead.
“Our power-play has been working really well lately,” said Karki, a native of Viala, Finland, whose eight goals were tops among OHL defencemen heading into Thursday night action. “I got a nice pass from Mignosa and I was the one who ended up scoring.”
Early in the third, Beck proved dangerous on the rush, beating Sztuska on the glove side from the top of the left face-off circle to make it 2-0. Beck has a 4-11-15 stat line over nine games.
Karki added a rink-long empty-net goal at 18:49 of the final period, before Justin Cloutier scored his fifth of the season, on the power play, with 10.4 seconds remaining in regulation.
“We played very good defence and our goalie was really-good tonight,” Karki added. “We generated way more offence than the last two games.”
The Soo finished 2-for-6 with the man advantage while successfully killing off all four Peterborough power plays. The loss for the Petes dropped them to 4-2-1-0.
While Dean said he saw improvement in the way his players got to the front of the net, he talked about how there’s room for improvement.
“I still think our net presence can be better,” the coach added.
