Lalonde ready for critical stretch
by Peter Ruicci (Independent Media) | Photo by Bob Davies
He plays on a team with four rookie defencemen.
But despite the youth in front of him, Nolan Lalonde vacuums away pucks like a Bissell Upright.
Rock solid over the majority of his nine starts here, the overage (2004 birth year) netminder says he’s ready to close the regular season forcefully.
“I’m absolutely determined to do everything I can to help the team make the playoffs,” said Lalonde, who, along with three draft choices, joined the Soo Greyhounds at the OA trade deadline in a deal that sent fellow overage Charlie Schenkel to Kingston.
Asked how he intends to help lead the Hounds, Lalonde spoke of his most-important goals.
“By being consistent and bringing a sense of calm to our group with my play. I think that’s the biggest thing for me over this last little stretch.”
The Soo hit the road Wednesday afternoon for a three-game trip which begins on Thursday (7 p.m.) in North Bay.
The Hounds hold the eighth-and-final playoff berth in the Western Conference. With a 19-27-1-1 mark, their 40 points are just two clear of ninth-place Owen Sound (16-26-3-3). Guelph (14-26-4-3) is 10th with 35 points.
Both the Greyhounds and Attack have 20 games remaining while the Storm has 21 left to play.
“He’s one of our most-critical players on the ice,” head coach John Dean said of Lalonde, a Kingston native who has two shutouts since joining the Hounds. “He’s allowed us to make mistakes and find our game over the course of play by saving us when we do make mistakes.”
Dean went on to say the six-foot-two, 200-pounder “fights and scraps between the pipes. And that makes our guys want to fight for him.”
After discussing his commitment to gaining a playoff spot, Lalonde spoke of how that feeling resonates throughout the Hounds roster.
“Everyone in our room is determined,” said Lalonde, who signed as an NHL free agent with Columbus in October of 2022. “I think that’s one thing we have on our side. It’s that we all share the same common goal.”
But it’s not just making the playoffs.
Lalonde is focused on finishing as high as possible in the conference standings and pulling an upset in the opening round.
Heading into Thursday’s action, Flint (20-23-2-3) and Sarnia (18-21-3-6) are tied for sixth place. Both clubs are five points up on the Hounds and have 20 games remaining.
“Just making the playoffs isn’t good enough in our opinion,” said Lalonde, who became the first Greyhounds goalie to score an OHL goal when he lifted home an empty-netter on Jan. 24 against Flint.
It contributed to a 5-3 Soo victory on a night when Lalonde also made numerous big saves.
“We want to make the playoffs and see where we can go from there,” the netminder added.
How about the chances of catching Flint and/or Sarnia?
“It won’t be easy,” said Lalonde. “But we have the belief in our room that we can do it.”
A season ago, the Saginaw Spirit made what proved to be a shrewd move, acquiring Lalonde from Erie to join Andrew Oke on a team that had won the right to play host to the 2024 Memorial Cup.
And when Oke was injured in Game 2 of the Hounds-Spirit, Western Conference semifinals, Lalonde came on, played the rest of the way and backstopped his club to a hard-fought, 4-3 victory in the best-of-seven series.
The Spirit went on to win the Memorial Cup, something he called “very, very special. To be a part of that was incredible.”
With that in mind, you can understand how determined Lalonde was last Sunday, when the Hounds visited Saginaw in what would be his final appearance at the Dow Event Center.
Lalonde impressed, despite the Soo blowing a 2-0 lead – part of a very undisciplined performance – and losing 5-2.
He made a number of impressive saves, while surrendering four of the goals while facing 47 shots.
“You want to win every game, but that one was special being on the other side of that rivalry,” Lalonde said. “My last time there, I definitely would like to have won that one.”
Since joining the Hounds, Lalonde has a 3-4-1-1 record, a 3.51 goals against average and a saves percentage of .893.
However, mere numbers don’t tell the story of the impact he’s had.
Dean said he believes the goalie is having fun, noting how the ability to enjoy oneself playing the game is half the battle.
“He’s playing free. He’s playing a very free game,” said Dean, who credits netminding coach Mark Visentin for helping Lalonde maintain a high level of confidence. “He trusts his foundation and skill set. He knows that 99 per cent of the time he’s going to make the first save.”
After reviewing video from the Saginaw setback, Dean said he wasn’t pleased with the way in which his club exited its zone.
The coach said the Hounds were stubborn in their approach.
“We’ve been one-dimensional,” he added. “We want our guys to make plays when they’re there, and to live to see another day when the plays aren’t.”
Dean went on to explain how his players “either try to make too many plays, or not enough. We need to find a happy medium.”
Following the North Bay clash, the Soo is slated to visit Barrie (7:30 p.m.) on Saturday and Oshawa (2:05 p.m.) on Sunday.
Notes:
On Wednesday, Greyhounds rookie Chase Reid was named to the Canadian Hockey League team of the month for January.
The talented defenceman notched a goal and 18 assists, to go along with a plus-minus of plus-10, in 12 games.
No rookie rearguard in the CHL, let alone any first-year player in the OHL, had more January points than the Chesterfield, Mich., native.
Meantime, Hounds centre Owen Allard (upper-body injury) is listed as day-to-day for this trip.
Feeling ill and bothered by an upper-body injury, forward Chris Brown remained in the Sault.
