Ivanov, Watson spark gutsy Greyhounds win
by Peter Ruicci (Independent Media) | Photo courtesy of Sudbury Wolves
This may have been the best 19 hours of Samuel Ivanov’s OHL career.
It may also have been the Soo Greyhounds gutsiest win of the 2022-2023 campaign.
For the second game in a row, Ivanov was brilliant on Sunday, leading his team to a come-from-behind 3-2 shootout victory over the Sudbury Wolves before 3,088 at Sudbury Community Arena.
On a day when the Hounds had two goals disallowed – including one by Kalvyn Watson in overtime – lost two players to injury and managed just 21 shots through 65 minutes of hockey, they found a way to grind out a much-needed victory.
Despite what happened in OT, Watson would not be denied in the shootout, beating Wolves netminder Kevyn Brassard high to the glove-hand side to clinch it.
“I’m proud of our resilience. We all know that’s not a great game for us, but for our guys to find a way to get two points is pretty impressive,” said head coach John Dean, whose team won an OT/shootout game for just the third time this season against 11 losses. “A lot of it falls on Sammy and what a phenomenal game he played for us.”
Following a superb showing in Saturday night’s 3-1 loss in Barrie, Ivanov was asked if this stretch has indeed been his career best.
“I’d agree, performance wise,” said the second-year netminder, who spoke of how a strong showing is much more satisfying when it results in a victory. “I felt really sharp and confident in both games. I made myself look as big as possible and I’m proud of my performance.”
Dean also lauded Ivanov, whose team was outshot 42-21 on Sunday and a combined 72-36 over the weekend, for his best career stretch.
“It’s by far his best body of work. He was just incredible,” said the Soo coach, whose team improved to 13-16-7-4, after losing the first two games on a three-game trip. “I don’t know what happened in Barrie or Sudbury, but he should have been the first star in both games. If not for Sammy today, we all know that’s a different score.”
The start for Ivanov was his 17th straight in the absence of injured goalie Charlie Schenkel.
As for the team’s performance, Watson liked what he saw.
“You can definitely say it was our gutsiest game,” said the veteran, who had scored five times in his previous five games heading into the Sudbury contest. “This shows the character in our dressing room.”
The Wolves had scored once in three shootout tries when Watson, whose team had one goal in two attempts on Brassard, skated toward centre ice.
“The pre-scout by Matty Smith, our goaltending coach, talked about high glove. That was something (Brassard) isn’t best with,” explained Watson. “So, I came down the right side, tried to pull him over to the left a little bit and put it over his glove. And it worked.”
His immediate feeling as the puck hit the twine?
“Awesome,” answered Watson, who had an assist in regulation.
The Soo lost both centre Mark Duarte, in the opening period, and winger Ethan Montroy, late in the second, to what Dean called upper-body injuries. Neither returned.
The Hounds are also without defenceman Andrew Gibson, who suffered a lower-body injury on Thursday in North Bay and has since returned to the Sault. Dean said he had no information on the extent of Gibson’s injury.
Nolan Collins, with a blue-line shot through traffic, opened the scoring at 14:49 of the opening frame for the Wolves, who fell to 15-19-3-1. Moments later, the Soo appeared to tie it on a Bryce McConnell-Barker tally.
A goal was signaled by the referees, despite the fact Brassard had dislodged the net just before the puck crossed the line. After review, however, the goal was disallowed.
Dean argued vociferously, to no avail. The coach later spoke of how the play shouldn’t have been reviewed.
“The only thing they can review is whether the puck crossed the goal-line before the net comes off and everyone knew it crossed after the net went off,” he said. “The ruling on the ice was a goal because it was an imminent scoring chance. . . it didn’t impact the play and the puck still went in.”
Asked about his conversations with the game officials, Dean said he never did get an explanation.
The Soo coach went on to say the ruling “really threw our guys for a loop.”
But Brenden Sirizzotti tied the contest at 6:55 of the second period, taking a feed from Watson before making a beautiful move to beat Brassard. Six minutes later, former Hound Marc Boudreau was unchallenged as he skated into the slot before beating Ivanov glove side.
That gave the Wolves a 2-1 advantage.
Hounds rearguard Caeden Carlisle tied the game at 9:01 of the third. Connor Clattenburg kept the puck in the Wolves zone, Alex Kostov circled the net with it before finding Carlisle alone in the slot. He connected on the glove side to make it 2-2.
Ivanov made the save of the game early in overtime, diving across the crease to thwart Nick DeGrazia with a brilliant glove stop. Watson then thought he had won it following a slick feed in front by Kirill Kudryavtsev. The Hounds had celebrated and the teams had left the ice when a review determined the goal was offside.
“That was emotionally draining. But our bench was so calm,” said Dean, whose club is slated to return home to face Saginaw on Wednesday in a 7:07 p.m. start.
