Hounds turn road into friendly surroundings
by Peter Ruicci (Independent Media) | Photo by Tim Leighton (Mississauga Steelheads)
Long, tiring road trips typically offer travelling teams very little mercy.
However, on this trip the Soo Greyhounds showed their last two opponents none at all.
On a journey that took them to Erie, Brantford and Mississauga, while playing three games in four days, the Hounds found a way to secure five of a possible six points.
Three special teams goals in the second period turned the trick on Sunday, as the Hounds stopped the Steelheads 5-2 in front of 2,828 at Paramount Fine Foods Centre.
“I’m super proud – especially when you give up a point in Game 1,” said head coach John Dean, whose team opened the trip with a 3-2 overtime loss in Erie on Thursday, before stopping Brantford 8-2 on Friday. Not winning the opener “makes it a lot harder. It puts a lot more pressure on the next two games.”
Dean also spoke of how five out of six points makes for a “great weekend and, hopefully, a defining weekend for us.”
“This road trip meant a lot to us,” added defenceman Andrew Gibson, whose club lost two of three during its last trip. “We wanted six out of six points, but we had that tough OT loss to start the week. That just pushed us to work harder these last two games.”
The Hounds are now 9-4-1-0 on the road and 15-7-2-0 overall. The Steelheads fell to 14-8-0-0.
Winger Alex Kostov, whose short-handed tally gave the Soo a 3-0 lead and stood up as the winner, said he believes success on the road is the result of contributions from each player on the roster.
“I think this is a big moment for us this season,” added Kostov, a Mississauga native who celebrated his first goal of 2023-2024. “This is a good stepping stone. We established a standard we need to hold each other to.”
The Soo used its power play to open a lead it would never relinquish.
After a fast-paced, scoreless first 30 minutes, Gibson’s power-play point shot was redirected in front by Owen Allard. The puck beat Mississauga netminder Ryerson Leenders high to the glove side at the 10:19 mark of the second period.
The visitors connected again with the man advantage just 47 seconds later. With the Steelheads Angus MacDonell off for high-sticking, Gibson found Jordan D’Intino in the right face-off circle. D’Intino’s wicked, one-timer found net on the glove side to make it 2-0.
And just over three-minutes later, D’Intino took advantage of Mississauga’s sloppy play in its own zone. With the Hounds short-handed, D’Intino grabbed a turnover and fed Kostov alone in front. The second-year winger went high to the blocker side for a 3-0 lead at the 15:40 mark.
“Obviously, that felt great, especially with all of my friends and family there,” said Kostov, who estimated the group seeing him play was between 30-40. “I’ve been a little snakebitten.”
“Those three goals were huge for us,” added D’Intino, who had a goal and an assist on the heels of scoring twice short-handed and assisting on another goal during the win in Brantford. “They changed the momentum in the game for us.”
However, despite falling in a 3-0 hole, the Steelheads persevered.
Former Greyhound Marc Boudreau knocked a rebound past Charlie Schenkel at 9:01 of the final period before Porter Martone added a power-play goal four minutes later.
But Jack Beck set up Marco Mignosa for a power-play goal, his eighth of the season, at 18:11 to give the Soo a 4-2 lead. Mignosa, who has scored in five consecutive games, showed patience in front of the Missy goal before scoring on a forehand-to-backhand move. The Vaughan, Ont., native has five goals and five assists over that span.
On a day when the Soo held a 41-26 edge in shots, Justin Cloutier hustled his way to an empty-net goal in the final minute to complete the scoring.
Gibson and Travis Hayes contributed two assists each.
Dean said Mignosa had “another great game,” while adding the veteran winger “was unbelievable this weekend.”
The coach called Schenkel’s play “great,” pointing out how the veteran netminder gave up just five goals in over 120 minutes on the trip. He also offered praise for Kostov’s ability on the PK.
After returning home, the Hounds depart on Wednesday for a fourth consecutive road tilt, this time in Saginaw (7:05 p.m.).
The Spirit won its 10th in a row on Sunday, beating Niagara 6-2 to improve to 14-7-1-0.
The Soo and Saginaw also meet Friday (7:07 p.m.) at GFL Memorial Gardens.
Notes:
Veteran winger Julian Fantino sat out Sunday, serving the first of a two-game suspension. That’s as a result of a major and game misconduct for checking to the head in the Brantford game.
