Hounds ‘let one get away’ in Erie
by Peter Ruicci (Independent Media) | Photo courtesy of Peter Wreschinsky (Erie Otters)
GAME HIGHLIGHTS | GAME CENTRE
The Soo Greyhounds can file this one under Points that Got Away.
“For sure, we left a point on the table,” said head coach John Dean, whose club’s inability to finish scoring chances, in large part due to the goaltending of former Greyhound Noah Tegelaar, proved critical on Friday.
McLean Agrette scored the clinching shootout goal as the Erie Otters stopped the Hounds 3-2 in front of 3,429 at Erie Insurance Arena.
The Otters entered the game as one of the OHL’s worst teams, while the Hounds are arguably a serious Western Conference contender. But each team had scored once entering the fifth round of the shootout. Agrette made a left to right deke on Carter George, before using the backhand to lift the puck over the sprawling netminder.
“Obviously, we let one get away,” said overage winger Marco Mignosa, whose club missed out on a chance to gain valuable ground in the Western Conference standings.
“We had an opportunity against that team to really bring the heat and get two points,” said Dean, whose club lost its second straight on this trip, falling to 29-15-1-2.
The Soo dropped a 6-3 decision to Niagara on Thursday.
“We had four 2-on-1s and don’t get a shot on net. We had some sharp opportunities we don’t bear down on,” the coach added.
That, coupled with the work of Tegelaar, on a night when the Soo held a 36-24 edge in shots, was difficult to swallow.
“Teegs played really well. We had a lot of chances, but Teegs was standing on his head for a lot of the game,” said Soo winger Jeremy Martin.
“Erie did a good job of clogging the O-zone,” added Dean. “And credit to Noah, he played a great game.”
With 61 points, the Hounds remain fourth in the conference, six points back of Flint (31-12-3-2), which dropped a 6-5 overtime decision to Barrie on Friday. Windsor (31-11-5-1) has 68 points after losing 7-2 to Kitchener (32-11-4-1). The Rangers lead the conference with 69 points.
The Greyhounds have a single game in hand on all three teams ahead of them.
Trailing 2-1 and pressing hard, the Hounds tied the game at 16:19 of the third period. Callum Croskery dropped the puck for Martin, who skated into the slot and beat Tegelaar high to the blocker side.
Tegelaar made a clutch save, thwarting a Jordan Charron breakaway chance with 1:25 left in regulation.
Chris Brown opened the scoring, redirecting a point shot by Chase Reid past Tegelaar at 17:25 of the first period.
Erie scored twice in the middle frame. Jake Murray banged the rebound of a Tristen Trevino shot past George at the 2:22 mark.
Twelve minutes later, Michael Dec converted a three-way passing play. The trailer on a 3-on-1, Dec went glove side to make it 2-1 Otters.
“It feels amazing,” said Tegelaar, interviewed afterwards on the Otters television broadcast. “Knowing it’s a revenge game, it’s my old team and I had to play well. I was in a zone.”
“You always want to stick it to your old team,” said Martin, discussing how motivated Tegelaar appeared on Friday.
Dean spoke of how he was disappointed the Soo didn’t get two points, but noted how any team can beat another club on any given night.
This trip concludes on Sunday for the Hounds with a difficult challenge against Brantford (2 p.m.), tops in the league’s overall standings.
“Niagara was obviously not a good game, but tonight there was a legitimate effort by our group to be structured,” Dean said, leading into the keys to Sunday’s outcome. “Our forecheck will need to improve and we need to be a more aggressive team in the offensive zone.”
Mignosa talked about how the Bulldogs are the best team in the OHL.
“We have to be ready to go,” he said.
“Obviously, we need to be better,” Martin added. “It’s a must-win game. We need two points to go 3-for-6 on the weekend. Brantford is a highly-skilled team. But if we fix the little details, we have a very good chance to come out on top.”
Notes:
The Soo played minus veteran defenceman Spencer Evans, who was handed a three-game suspension by the OHL on Friday. That was after Evans was whistled for a five-minute major for slashing near the end of Thursday’s game with the IceDogs.
