Hounds start slow, finish fast
by Peter Ruicci (Independent Media) | Photo courtesy of Sam Buschbeck
GAME HIGHLIGHTS | GAME CENTRE
Marco Mignosa didn’t finalize his shootout plan on Saturday until he saw what the opposition’s goalie was going to do.
“When I go in slowly, the goalie drops slowly without even realizing it,” explained the Soo Greyhounds sniper. “And the high net opens up.”
It did on this occasion and Mignosa took advantage, beating Owen Sound’s Matthew Koprowski high to the glove hand.
After the teams had combined for five unsuccessful attempts, this one gave the visitors another come-from-behind victory. The Hounds secured a 6-5 shootout decision over the Attack in front of 3,147 at the Harry Lumley Bayshore Community Centre.
The win came on a night when Hounds netminder Carter George made his first appearance at the Bayshore since being dealt to the Soo at the OHL trade deadline.
“The shootout goal felt great,” said Mignosa, who capped a superb performance in which he scored twice and assisted on another in regulation, while firing 11 shots at the Owen Sound goal.
Since injury woes have taken a serious toll “he’s really put this team in his shoulders,” said head coach John Dean, whose club has now won nine times after trailing entering the third period this season. “He’s been very special. He’s called The Magic Man for a reason, he’s been magnificent.”
Indeed.
Over his last six games, the overage from Vaughan, Ont., has produced six goals and four assists.
“We’re the best comeback team in the league,” added Mignosa, whose stats line improved to 22-45-67. “Our character is awesome and it’s a great feeling to win the game.”
That excitement, however, is tempered by the fact the Hounds started slowly and were forced to play a furious final period, rallying from 4-2 and 5-3 deficit to force overtime.
That’s two nights in a row on this trip where the Soo has required a late game revival.
The Hounds trailed London 3-1 with 13 minutes left in regulation on Friday. They rallied, tied the game and forced overtime, only to lose in a shootout.
“We don’t want to be chasing every game,” said Mignosa, whose fourth-place club gained two points on Flint (36-14-3-2) and London (31-18-4-1) on Saturday, while keeping pace with Windsor (35-12-5-2) and Kitchener (37-12-4-1) in the Western Conference’s late-season, free-for-all. “We need to work on our full 60-minute effort.”
“This result is huge,” added Dean, whose club improved to 33-16-1-4 heading into an off day on Sunday, before Monday’s 2:05 p.m. start in Sarnia. “But the trend where we wait until the last minute to start is not something we’re enjoying. The character of this group is clearly on display, but we have to find a way to start on time.”
That’s especially true with just 14 regular season games – including two against Flint, two against Windsor and one each with Brantford and Kitchener – remaining.
“We’re just never out of a game,” noted Hounds centre Brady Smith. “But we can’t keep doing this, especially come playoff time. We have to start games on time.”
When asked, Smith estimated he and his teammates played between 30-40 minutes of good hockey.
“We have to play a full 60, and that’s the biggest thing we can take from tonight,” he added.
Meantime, George, interviewed on the RogersTV postgame show, spoke of how he was “happy I got to play one more game in front of these fans. I can’t thank the city of Owen Sound and the community enough.”
Asked about the Hounds, the veteran goalie said he believes “we have a championship caliber team and we just want to take this as far as we can.”
Meantime, trailing 4-2 early in the third, Jeremy Martin trimmed the Greyhounds deficit.
Matthew Koprowski made a huge save on Mignosa before Martin banged home a loose puck at 2:01. Martin’s 25th marked the eighth consecutive game in which he’s collected at least one goal. He has nine over that stretch.
However, the Ajax, Ont., native was checked hard into the boards just before scoring. Afterwards, the Hounds removed him from the game for what Dean is calling “precautionary reasons. He’s day-to-day with an upper-body injury.”
With the score 4-3, the Attack countered with a power-play goal by John Banks six minutes later.
But Owen Sound’s 5-3 lead didn’t last long.
At the 10:00 mark, Koprowski made the stop on a Mignosa shot, but the rebounded deflected in off of an Attack defender. That made it 5-4.
Carson Andrew tied the game at 16:10 of the third, redirecting home a Noah Laus shot.
At 17:51 of the third, the Attack’s Jake Crawford was whistled for a five-minute match penalty for cross-checking Smith in the face. However, the Soo was unable to convert through the end of regulation and nearly three minutes of overtime.
After the game, Smith spoke of the need to have an X-ray done, while hoping his nose wasn’t broken.
Smith and Mignosa had the other goals for the Greyhounds, who held a 39-33 edge in shots. Crawford, Nicholas Sykora, Braedyn Rogers and Jared Langdon rounded out the Attack scoring. Owen Sound fell to 20-28-2-4.
“We wanted to win for him,” Mignosa said of George, who’s been a big addition to the Greyhounds. “We’re super happy for him to come back here and get the victory.”
Dean credited Owen Sound for playing a “very, very hard game. Resiliency by our team is a beautiful thing. But let’s not put ourselves in the spot where we need it too often.”
Notes:
Hounds centre Brady Martin (shoulder) sat out for the third consecutive game after returning in last Sunday’s 5-2 win over Windsor.
