Hounds playoff plan: ‘To prove everyone wrong’
by Peter Ruicci (Independent Media) | Photo by Bob Davies
FULL PHOTO GALLERY | GAME HIGHLIGHTS
Following Sunday’s meaningless, regular season finale — the Soo Greyhounds stopped Sarnia 5-2 in front of 4,258 at GFL Memorial Gardens – the focus turned quickly to the Windsor Spitfires.
“It’s a great time for us to start the playoffs. We’re going in on a roll,” said centre Brady R. Smith, whose club finished the regular season in seventh place in the Western Conference and begins the postseason on Thursday and Saturday against the second-seeded Spitfires (both at 7:05 p.m.) at WFCU Centre. “We’re super determined. Obviously, we’re underdogs going into this series, but we want to prove everyone wrong.”
“They’re an all-round good team. But we know we can compete with them,” added winger Marco Mignosa, whose team capped the regular season with a five-game winning streak, finishing 29-35-2-2. “This past seven weeks we’ve come together so much, on and off the ice. We’re so confident, we don’t care who we play.”
Flint, a 6-3 winner over Saginaw on Saturday, clinched sixth place and a playoff matchup against the Kitchener Rangers. That made Sunday’s game a non-factor for the Hounds as far as playoff seeding is concerned.
Greyhounds head coach John Dean said there’s no doubt his team is ready for the next step.
“Our steel has been sharpened for battle over the last two months. We’re very excited,” said Dean, whose club has a mandatory day off on Monday, and plans to depart the city on Wednesday in preparation for the series opener. “We’ll get two practices in and we’ll prep specifically for Windsor.”
But the Hounds central purpose will involve their own game, as they get ready for the top team in the West Division, a club that posted an impressive 45-17-4-2 record.
“We’ll focus on our foundation and what makes us successful,” the coach continued. “The keys are pace of play, predictability (to each other) and fighting for each other. The standard is the standard.”
Head-to-head, the Spitfires beat the Soo in four of six regular season contests.
The numbers, however, appear to mean little to the Greyhounds.
“I’m super pumped,” said winger Travis Hayes, who led his team on Sunday with a goal and two assists. “There’s a good vibe in the room right now. We have a good confidence going into the first round and I think that showed today.”
Despite the fact they chose to rest No. 1 netminder Nolan Lalonde and four veteran skaters, the Hounds managed to outplay a Sarnia team that needed a win to extend its season.
Had they secured a victory, Sarnia (22-33-6-7) would have tied Owen Sound for the eighth-and-final playoff spot. That would have earned them a trip to visit the Attack for a one-game showdown on Tuesday. That game would have determined the conference’s last playoff entry and a first-round matchup against London.
In order to get them some rest on Sunday, the Hounds sat out centres Brady Martin and Owen Allard and rearguards Caeden Carlisle and Chase Reid.
“Getting up for the game was a challenge for us,” Dean admitted, when asked. “But the mark of a good team is to play to your identity every night, no matter the circumstances.”
Though he called the game “pretty sloppy” the coach spoke of how impressed he was by the play of netminder Landon Miller, how he enjoyed watching David Holub block shots, and how thoroughly impressed he was with Brayden Velliaris and Carson Andrew.
With the score tied 1-1, Brodie McConnell-Barker scored a power-play goal on a point shot at the :49 mark of the second period.
Hayes made it 3-1 at 5:37 of the third. Velliaris took the initial shot from the right circle and Hayes deposited the rebound past Sting goalie Evan Maillet. Less than four-minutes later, Smith poked home the rebound of Keegan Gillen point shot to make it 4-1.
Justin Cloutier added his 28th goal, an empty-netter with 5:12 remaining, to make it 5-1. Mignosa assisted on the tally, his second helper of the day and 200th career point.
“That felt great. It was amazing,” said Mignosa, who asked Dean to put him on the ice in search of that milestone point. “I told him I couldn’t go into the summer not getting No. 200.”
“He’s a special hockey player,” the coach added.
Noel Nordh, with his 21st goal and seventh in his last seven games, had the other Soo marker.
Smith and Cloutier contributed a goal and an assist each while Andrew, who was outstanding, added two assists.
With Maillet on the bench for a sixth skater, Zach Filak drew Sarnia to within 5-2 at 18:34 of the third.
James Barr had the other goal for the Sting, who struggled through two periods but outshot the home side 24-9 in the third and 44-28 overall.
“We needed more desperation today. We’ve needed more all season,” said Sting head coach Al Letang. “We came up short.”
Dean said Miller “was great” during the six-on-five onslaught the Sting unleashed late in the game. “We have a lot of belief in Landon.”
Meantime, after the first two games, the Hounds-Spits series shifts to the Sault for Games 3-4 the following Monday and Wednesday, Mar. 31 and Apr. 2. Both are 7:07 p.m. starts.
Game 5, if needed, is slated for Apr. 4 in Windsor (7:05 p.m.). The Hounds would host a sixth game, if necessary, on Apr. 6. In a rare Sunday night contest, that game would begin at 7:07 p.m.
And should the series go the distance, the deciding game would be played in Windsor on Apr. 8 (7:05 p.m.).
