‘Nervous’ Hounds struggle in series opener
by Peter Ruicci (Independent Media) | Photo courtesy of Remo Agostino (Windsor Spitfires)
Too many mistakes in their own end of the ice – and an inability to generate chances at the other – vacuum-packed the Soo Greyhounds fate on Thursday.
Bearing little resemblance to the team which won five straight to end the regular season, the Hounds fell 7-2 to the Windsor Spitfires in their best-of-seven series opener in front of 4,586 at WFCU Centre.
“We looked really nervous, very unlike ourselves,” said head coach John Dean, whose team will seek a split on the road when the series continues on Saturday (7:05 p.m.) in Windsor. “We were bobbling pucks and we didn’t have a shooting mentality.”
With so many players skating in their first OHL playoff contest, Dean spoke of how “some guys responded and some guys didn’t. But we’ll learn from it.”
“We were a bit shell-shocked. I think nerves may have bothered a lot of the younger players,” said overage centre Owen Allard. “That definitely wasn’t the performance we wanted. We obviously have to be better. But it’s a long series.”
Defensive-zone miscues played a role in each of the Spits first five goals.
“The good news is, it doesn’t get much worse,” Dean said when asked about his club’s defensive play. “There are so many areas we can improve upon. We made a lot of errors in our own end and we were very disconnected as a group.”
Hounds captain Caeden Carlisle spoke of how there is much the team can learn before Saturday’s second game.
“We have to attack and not sit back. That’s what happened at the start of the game,” said Carlisle, disappointed in how his club surrendered two goals in the opening 3:34 and was outshot 37-16. “We can’t be on our heels.”
After finishing the regular season 34 points ahead of the Hounds, the Spitfires, seeded No. 2 in the Western Conference, wasted little time in Game 1.
Just 2:08 in, the seventh-seeded Greyhounds allowed Carson Woodall to skate in from the Soo blue-line, before firing from the top of the left circle. He beat Nolan Lalonde, who got very little help on this night, on the glove side.
At 3:34, Cole Davis sped around Keegan Gillen on the left wing, cut in and slipped a backhander through the five-hole to make it 2-0.
The Hounds lost two battles in the defensive zone early in the second before Ilya Protas, who finished with four assists, found Liam Greentree in the left circle. The Spits winger, who notched two goals and two assists, beat a screened Lalonde on the glove side to make it 3-0 at the 37-second mark.
Just 16-seconds later, Travis Hayes grabbed a loose puck and let fly from the slot. Joey Costanzo got a piece of the shot, but the puck trickled in to make it 3-1.
On the power play, at 13:54, Allard took a feed from Noel Nordh, skated down Main Street and went five-hole on Costanzo.
With the Hounds shorthanded late in the middle frame, Marco Mignosa nearly scored to tie the contest.
However, seconds later, after the Hounds failed to clear, Noah Morneau hit the post before depositing his own rebound. The goal, at 18:54, made it 4-2.
“That was definitely a pivotal moment in the game,” said Allard. “It just shows how quickly playoff games can change.”
Again the Soo’s inability to clear proved costly when the Spits had several chances before Morneau made it 5-2 with his second goal at 9:50 of the third. Greentree added an empty-net tally and Luke McNamara capped the scoring.
On a night when he was hung out to dry, Lalonde “scrapped for us,” said Dean
Asked what has to change on Saturday, Carlisle talked about how the young Hounds got used to the speed of playoff hockey on Thursday.
“They got their feet wet and playoff nerves should be gone by Game 2,” he said. “Our D-zone will have to be better, we can’t make turnovers in the O-zone and we have to have more of a shooting mentality.”
“The biggest thing is to get our forecheck established. It wasn’t very good tonight,” added Allard. “That’s how we generate offence.”
Dean talked about how confident he is in his club.
“There’s a lot of fight in this team,” the coach added. “We have to learn from our mistakes.”
They’ll also have to generate more chances.
Dean spoke about how “there’s never a bad shot in this league. We have to get through that first layer and get the puck on net. But we’ll be better on Saturday, I’m sure of that.”
Games 3-4 in this series are set for Monday and Wednesday at GFL Memorial Gardens. Start time for both is 7:07 p.m. A fifth game, if needed, is a week from Friday in Windsor.
If the series goes six, the Hounds will be at home for an Apr. 6 tilt, a rare 7:07 p.m. Sunday clash.
Game 7, if necessary, is scheduled for Apr. 8 in Windsor.
