Quick start gets it done
by Peter Ruicci (Independent Media) | Photo by Bob Davies
FULL PHOTO GALLERY | VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS | GAME CENTRE
Coach Drew Bannister stressed the importance of a fast start on Friday.
Mission accomplished for the Soo Greyhounds.
The Hounds scored four times in the opening period and would never trail.
Newly-minted captain Travis Hayes notched his first two goals of the season and the Hounds went on to defeat the Brampton Steelheads 6-3 in front of 3,028 at GFL Memorial Gardens.
“One-hundred per-cent we wanted a fast start. We knew they had played in North Bay last night,” said Hayes, the Westland, Mich., native, who was named captain on Friday morning.
The third year winger explained how equipment manager Nike Simpson had informed the team the Steelheads arrived in the Sault at 3 a.m. on Friday, after losing 5-2 to the Battalion Thursday night.
“We knew they’d come out kind of flat because of that and we took advantage of it,” Hayes continued. “I thought our line got the guys going and from there, our first period was really good.”
The Greyhounds hadn’t played since last Saturday against Sarnia.
“Our forecheck was real good,” said Bannister, whose club takes a 2-1-0-0 record into Saturday’s 7:07 p.m. home clash with North Bay (2-1-0-0). “We got pressure on them and, in turn, created offence off of that. I thought our track was really good, our D stood up and we forced turnovers at our blue-line.”
“We caused them a lot of trouble,” added winger Ryan Kaczynski, who contributed a goal and an assist and owns a 5-1-6 stat line through nine periods of hockey. “We pressured the puck and stayed on top of it.”
Playing with Noah Laus and Quinn McKenzie, Hayes opened the scoring 8:27 into the first period following a Brampton turnover. McKenzie made a quick pass to his wide-open teammate in front and Hayes wasted little time in beating Oskari Ahmajarvi high to the glove side.
Just 1:54 later, Kaczynski beat the Steelheads to the front of the net and knocked a feed from Jordan Charron out of the air and past Ahmajarvi.
The home side made it 3-0 at 17:55 when Callum Croskery fed Jeremy Martin in the high slot. The Steelheads netminder got a piece of the shot but was beaten blocker side.
And just 1:02 after that, it was 4-0. Laus took a pass from Spencer Evans, motored down the right wing and went high to the blocker side from the top of the right circle.
The Belle River, Ont., native has four goals and an assist on the young season.
As impressive as the opening 20 minutes were, the Hounds were lacking in the second and third.
They failed to match the jump they had displayed in the opening frame.
“We have to learn not to let up,” said Bannister, whose club was outshot 25-16 over the final two periods and 30-28 overall. “That’s not winning hockey. What I watched in the second and third is not winning hockey.”
“We have to clean up a ton,” Hayes said of the final 40 minutes. “Up 4-0, that game should have been over at that point. We just had to lock it down. But we didn’t do a good job of that.”
Hayes blamed execution for the dip in his club’s play.
He also spoke of how the Greyhounds will learn from it.
After replacing Ahmajarvi in favour of Neilan Johnson, the Steelheads came out with more jump in the second period.
Just six seconds into a powerplay, at 8:19 Nathan Amidovski beat Landon Miller high to the glove side with a shot from the right circle.
With their lead trimmed to 4-1, the Hounds got a key power-play goal late in the second.
A wicked blast by Charron was blocked by defenceman Zach Nyman and the puck caromed to Trevor Daley at the side of the goal.
The rookie banged it home and the timing couldn’t have been better.
“It just bounced right to me. Those are tough to control,” said Daley, who finished with a goal and an assist and now has a 2-3-5 stat line in his first three games. “I knew I had to bear down and bury it.”
With the visitors hungry to get back into the game, the goal restored the Soo’s four-goal advantage.
“That was a big goal for us,” Daley agreed.
The visitors scored a couple of flukey goals in the third when Miller lost sight of the puck. Troy Patton connected at :36 and Peter Green at 19:42.
They were sandwiched around Hayes’s second of the night, following a slick feed by Kaczynski.
Martin and Daley joined Kaczynski – all with a goal and an assist.
McKenzie and Charron assisted on two goals each.
Green had a goal and two assists in defeat.
Brampton coach and general manager James Richmond agreed the first period all but decided the outcome.
“You can’t get down 4-0 in this league to anybody,” said Richmond, whose club fell to 0-4-0-0. “We got behind in the game but we didn’t mail it in.”
Notes:
Hounds forward Chris Brown left midway through the second period and didn’t return. Bannister explained how Brown had blocked a shot in the Sarnia game and suffered a painful, lower-body bruise.
The injury flared up on Friday.
Meantime, rookie netminder William Camputaro is expected to get the start on Saturday against the Battalion.
