McConnell-Barker buries OT winner
by Peter Ruicci (Independent Media) | Photo by Bob Davies
FULL PHOTO GALLERY | VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS
The way the third period and overtime were playing out on Sunday, the Windsor Spitfires appeared – several times – to be on the verge of defeat.
The Soo Greyhounds were only too happy to provide a little push.
Second-year defenceman Brodie McConnell-Barker delivered it, ending the drama at 2:44 of OT to give the Hounds a 2-1 victory in front of 4,247 at GFL Memorial Gardens.
“It felt great. It’s a great feeling to get my first goal of the season after coming back from injury,” said McConnell-Barker, who missed the first 11 games with a lower-body injury suffered in the first exhibition contest.
“I’m super proud of him. He scored a massive one,” said head coach John Dean, who watched anxiously as Noel Nordh won an offensive-zone face-off and Marco Mignosa delivered a pass which led McConnell-Barker to open ice.
The London, Ont., native skated into the slot and beat Spits netminder Joey Costanzo, who was a standout in defeat, high to the glove side.
“I saw he was low to the ice,” explained McConnell-Barker, whose club improved to 12-9-0-0 heading into Thursday’s start of a three-game trip against the Niagara IceDogs (7 p.m.) in St. Catharines. “I wanted to go up high.”
As excited as Dean was by the goal, the impressive netminding of Landon Miller and the victory, the Soo coach spoke of how his club’s response might have been most pleasing.
“Our second period was not good, and the sign of a good team is its ability to reset and find a way to be better the following period,” said Dean, whose club outshot the Spits 17-6 in the third and 5-0 in the overtime frame. “I don’t think we had done that all year, to be honest.”
But they did exactly that against the Spitfires, who fell to 14-5-2-0.
In the final frame, the Greyhounds simplified their game, got pucks behind the Windsor defencemen and outworked their West Division rivals.
“You could tell they were a little tired,” McConnell-Barker offered. “You could tell the game was starting to go in our direction in the third period.”
“They were at the end of their road trip. We knew if we outworked them in the third, we could come out with a W,” added defenceman Andrew Gibson, whose calm ability to control the puck helped wear the visitors down in the game’s latter stages.
The Spits were playing their third game in four days after opening their trip on Thursday, with a 5-3 win in North Bay. That was followed by a 9-3 setback on Friday in Sudbury.
“Fatigue was a factor,” said Windsor head coach Greg Walters. “But they’re a good team and John Dean is a good coach. They outworked us, they outplayed us.”
Trailing 1-0 after 40 minutes, the Soo tied the game at 9:47 of the third. Rookie defenceman Hunter Solomon kept the puck in, forcing a turnover along the right-wing boards. He fed Brady Smith who found Nordh in the slot.
The native of Soderhamn, Sweden, ripped home his fifth goal (in 10 games) to tie the score 1-1.
Nordh finished with a goal and an assist.
Windsor scored 4:20 into the second period when the Hounds left Miller to his own devices. On a 3-on-1, the Spits passed the puck four times over the final 20 feet before rookie Ethan Belchetz tapped the puck in on the stick side.
On a night when the home side held a 37-24 advantage, Miller kept his club in it.
“I was poised and reacting well to the puck,” said Miller. “I wasn’t overthinking things. The big key now is just to gain consistency.”
Miller “won that game for us,” added Gibson. “With him and (Charlie) Schenkel, I think we have the best goalie tandem in the league.”
Dean talked about how his team is still surrendering too many scoring chances.
“But Miller was great,” the coach added.
Dean was also highly-impressed by the work of Tate Vader between wingers Carson Andrew and newcomer Jordan Charron, who was playing in his first OHL game.
They were “arguably our best line,” the coach said.
Following the game in St. Catharines, the Soo is set to visit Erie on Friday (7 p.m.) and Brampton on Sunday (2 p.m.).
Notes:
The Hounds announced the signing of the 17-year-old (2007 birth year) Charron on Sunday.
The six-foot-one, 190-pounder was selected by the Soo in the sixth round of the 2023 OHL draft. Charron was skating for the Ayr Centennials of the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League and is committed to play NCAA hockey at St. Lawrence University.
“I liked his speed and he was a one-man breakout for us. He was first on a lot of pucks,” Dean said. Forward Charlie Hilton (upper body injury) returned to the lineup on Sunday. Overage Owen Allard and fellow forward Christopher Brown remain out with upper-body injuries.
