Hounds plan to use anger as fuel
by Peter Ruicci (Independent Media) | Photo by Bob Davies
He’s 19-years-old, a veteran winger, an alternate captain and tied for the Soo Greyhounds team scoring lead.
And Marco Mignosa isn’t happy.
“I’m angry, disappointed, a mix of all of it. It’s not fun what we’re doing right now. It’s tough,” said Mignosa, who’s produced a 14-19-33 stat line in 25 games.
Having experienced a number of injuries, the Greyhounds have lost five of six and 11 of their last 14.
“We’re obviously not happy with how the season is going,” added winger Justin Cloutier (18-15-33 in 35 games). “But at the same time, there’s no one to be mad at but ourselves.”
Mignosa added this: “It’s tough after coming off of a great season last year.”
The 2023-2024 Greyhounds shocked many around the OHL by finishing with a 45-18-3-2 mark.
They came within one period in Game 7 of eliminating the Saginaw Spirit in the West Division semifinals.
Saginaw went on to win the Memorial Cup.
But after losing seven key players to graduation, the young Hounds have been unable to overcome what has been an injury-riddled season.
Going into Fridays 7:07 p.m. home start against Peterborough (7-22-2-4), the Soo (15-20-0-0) will be minus star centre Brady Martin (lower-body injury), defenceman Spencer Evans (upper body) and forward Chris Brown (upper body).
Rearguard Adam Gibson and winger Noel Nordh are with their teams at the World Junior Championship in Ottawa.
Greyhounds head coach John Dean said he likes how his veteran players are angry about the fact “our losses are often completely within our control,” and that “we’ve been inconsistent about our identity.”
That ‘identity,’ the coach added, includes pace of play, employing a relentless approach and playing a simple brand of hockey that has the Hounds using speed to their advantage.
Asked about the club’s glaring issues with puck management, Dean pinned the blame on the fact “we’re not playing to our identity.”
Skating at home, the Soo was swept by Windsor over the weekend, losing 4-0 on Saturday and 10-6 Sunday afternoon.
Having reviewed Sunday’s video, Dean wasn’t pleased with the miscues, but spoke of how the effort was there.
The Hounds were outstanding for the first 35 minutes, opening a 2-1 lead against the OHL’s second-ranked team. But the Spits scored four times in a span of 4:19 to close the middle stanza.
The home side trailed 7-3 at one point in the third, before getting goals from Mignosa, Hunter Solomon and Owen Allard to make it 7-6.
However, the Soo could get no closer.
“We fought right to the bitter end,” said Dean. “And we gave ourselves a chance to win a hockey game.”
Looking ahead to this weekend, when the Hounds also visit Saginaw (7:05 p.m.) on Saturday, Dean spoke of the need for the club “to get our house in order –in a hurry.”
During a Thursday afternoon interview, he talked about how good he feels about the club’s week of practice.
“We had three great practices this week, some of our best,” agreed Cloutier. “We had a great chat as a group with Deaner on Tuesday and I really feel he has us motivated for a strong second half of the season. I can tell the guys have bought in.”
“We’re determined to get out of this hole we’re in,” said Mignosa. “We need to play a full 60 minutes and bring the same effort every single night.”
Notes:
Winger Sam Bowness, who’s been out with a charley horse, is expected to play on Friday.
Neither Martin nor Evans will play in either game this weekend, Dean said.
But the coach is hoping Evans will be day-to-day next week.
Dean also said he’s hopeful Brown can return to action during the week ahead.
