Hounds lose in Windsor, refocus on Sarnia test
by Peter Ruicci (Independent Media) | Photo courtesy of Remo Agostino (Windsor Spitfires)
If you’re going to succeed as a road team in Windsor, you’ll need top-flight netminding. The Soo Greyhounds didn’t get that on Thursday, as Landon Miller wasn’t at his best.
The second-year man surrendered a pair of second period goals he’d surely like to have back, as the Spits secured a 6-3 victory in front of 5,251 at WFCU Centre.
“Yes,” said head coach John Dean, when asked if his team could have used better goaltending against a Spitfires team now 26-4-0-1 on home ice. “This was a night he (Miller) probably thinks he’d like to have a few back.”
The Hounds had rallied from a 2-0 deficit to tie the game 2-2. But late in the middle frame, Miller lost sight of the puck on back-to-back soft goals a little over four minutes apart.
That gave the Spits a 4-2 lead, one they wouldn’t relinquish.
While he’s always believed in how he and his teammates win together and lose together, winger Marco Mignosa did say the quick goals “cost us the game. We were dominating there and then just two unfortunate goals. It was a tough hill to climb from there.”
Mignosa also agreed his teammate would like another chance to make those saves.
“Those goals took a lot out of us, I would say,” added fellow winger Justin Cloutier, who also offered support for Miller.
“They were two tough goals to give up, especially with the push we were putting on,” said Dean, whose club remains ninth in the OHL’s Western Conference standings heading into Thursday’s critical 7:05 p.m. start in Sarnia. “But it is what it is. They also put 40 pucks on our net.”
Windsor, now 43-16-4-1, outshot the Hounds 40-27.
Despite the setback, which dropped the Soo to 24-35-2-2, Dean said he loved the overall effort from his charges.
“I thought we competed our asses off,” the coach added. “We made a couple of mistakes inside of that, but It’s super hard not to be proud of this group. I’m excited about what they’re going to bring tomorrow.”
Seventh-place Sarnia (21-30-5-7) has 54 points, two more than the Greyhounds. Owen Sound (23-33-4-3) holds eighth-place, one point back of the Sting and one ahead of the Soo. All three teams have five regular season games remaining.
Tenth-place Guelph (18-35-5-4) has all but faded from the playoff picture. The Storm has 45 points, but a game in hand on Sarnia, Owen Sound and the Soo.
With Thursday’s score tied 2-2, the Spits went ahead at 14:02 of the second period. Ilya Protas fired from the high slot and Miller made the initial save. But the Soo goalie lost the puck in his pads and Ethan Belchetz tapped in the go-ahead goal.
At 18:38, with the Hounds defenders stuck on the ice for an extended period of time, the Spitfires opened a 4-2 lead. After losing his stick, Miller made a stop on a point shot by Carter Hicks.
But he completely lost sight of the puck, which had deflected into the corner. Ethan Garden, from a bad angle, sent a backhander off of Miller’s pads and into the Hounds net.
Following a neutral-zone turnover by Brady Martin, Protas, with a backhand shot, beat Miller high to the glove side. That made it 5-2 at 3:55 of the third.
With less than six-minutes remaining, Martin, with his 30th goal, beat Joey Costanzo up high to make it 5-3.
Noah Morneau added an empty-net goal to cap the scoring.
Windsor took a quick 2-0 lead with goals 1:08 apart early in the opening frame.
Miller could only get a piece of a Cole Davis shot from in front at 4:35.
A minute later, Liam Greentree drove the net following a Hounds turnover at the Spits blue-line. While defending, Spencer Evans slid into Miller and appeared to push the puck under the netminder and into the goal. That made it 2-0.
Just 21 seconds after that, Cloutier notched his 26th on a one-timer, following an Owen Allard feed.
At 10:34 of the opening frame, a Chase Reid shot deflected in off Mignosa’s skate for his 33rd.
At first, the goal was disallowed. But after a Hounds challenge, it was determined Mignosa was pushed into Costanzo by a Spits defender.
The Hounds power play continued its struggles, failing to connect after Davis was assessed a five-minute major for a check to the head of Travis Hayes late in the opening period. That was the Soo’s only man-advantage opportunity.
“We just need one to fall for us,” said Dean, trying to remain positive during the club’s PP drought. “One falls in, the barn door opens.”
Martin finished with a goal and an assist for the Soo while Reid added a pair of assists. Protas and Greentree each contributed a goal and two assists for the Spitfires.
Mignosa called the Sarnia showdown “enormous. It’s our biggest game of the season to date.”
Asked what the Hounds have to do to be successful, Mignosa spoke of how the Sting can play a physical brand of hockey and get under an opponent’s skin.
“But if we play the way we know how, we’ll be in good shape,” the club’s leading scorer added.
Cloutier spoke of how the Greyhounds know Sarnia will come out hard.
“We’ll have to match their intensity and bring more than them,” the Ottawa native added. “And our special teams have to win the battle.”
Dean, whose team also takes on Flint in a Saturday 7 p.m. clash, stressed how the Hounds control their own fate. They also entertain the Sting in the regular season finale for both.
“This has been marked on our calendar,” said the coach, whose decision to use Miller in Windsor allows him, should he so chose, to play overage Nolan Lalonde in both Sarnia and Flint. “I suspect it’s going to be a whale of a game.”
