RECAP; Hounds handle Flint, Guelph on horizon
by Peter Ruicci (Independent Media) | Photo by Natalie Shaver
As the Soo Greyhounds regular season wound down on Friday, the excitement surrounding the first round of the Ontario Hockey League playoffs ramped up.
Connor Toms recorded the first, two-goal game of his OHL career and Tucker Tynan provided strong netminding as the Hounds won their sixth in a row, beating the Flint Firebirds 6-3 in a spirited, penalty-filled clash before 2,956 at Dort Financial Center.
Less than 10 minutes after that game went final, Guelph and Kitchener entered overtime of a contest eventually won by the Storm, 3-2. While Guelph (35-24-5-3) grabbed two points, all that was needed was one to both clinch fifth place in the Western Conference and a date with the fourth-seeded Hounds in the conference quarter-finals.
Seeded No. 6, Owen Sound (33-26-5-3) will meet third-place Flint in Round 1 of post-season play.
“I think we match up pretty well with them,” Hounds star centre Rory Kerins said of the Storm. “We’ve played good games against them.”
Head-to-head this season the Soo is 3-2-0-0 against Guelph.
“We’re going to have to come hard every game,” added Kerins, who had a goal and two assists to boost his season stat line to 43-75-118, five back of Windsor’s Wyatt Johnston (45-78-123) entering Saturday’s finale (7 p.m.) against the Firebirds. “We’re going to have to be consistent against Guelph and play every period as if the score is 0-0.”
The best-of-seven series is set to begin next week with games on Thursday and Saturday at GFL Memorial Gardens, before play shifts to the Sleeman Centre for Games 3-4, Apr. 26 and 28.
Game 5, if needed, would be played in the Sault on Apr. 30. If necessary, the sixth game is set for May 2 in Guelph and should the series go the distance, the deciding clash would be played on May 4 at GFL Memorial Gardens.
“That’s a very good hockey team, very structured,” Hounds head coach John Dean said of the Storm. “(Head coach) George (Burnett) does an unbelievable job with that team. They’re going to come very prepared, they’re very sound defensively and they don’t give up a lot of opportunities in the middle of the ice.”
Hounds winger Cole MacKay, who had a goal and an assist on Friday to increase his career points total to 201, spoke of how the Storm is “a good young team that loves to play in the offensive zone. We have a lot of work to do next week to get ready.”
As far as playoff seeding, there was nothing for the Hounds (39-21-6-1) or Firebirds (41-21-1-4) to play for on Friday. But someone forgot to tell the two clubs, who used the first of back-to-back weekend games to further an acrimonious relationship.
“Our intensity was amazing. We were ready to go right from the start,” said Toms, whose two goals gave him four in his rookie season.
“Credit to our guys for going out there with purpose and playing hard,” added Dean, whose team opened a 4-0 lead by the 15-minute mark of the second period, on a night when the Soo held a 42-37 edge in shots. “But at the same time, that’s two games in a row in the third period where we’ve taken a lot of penalties. We have to be disciplined in those kind of games, there’s no doubt about it.”
Hounds winger Kalvyn Watson was handed a match penalty for high-sticking late in the final period. The incident will be reviewed by the OHL and Watson is looking at a possible suspension.
“We did a lot of good things,” said MacKay. “But obviously, we’d want to avoid all of that B.S. at the end of the game.”
With the teams skating 4-on-4, Toms beat Luke Cavallin with a backhander midway through the opening period. Bryce McConnell-Barker, on the power play, notched his 23rd seven minutes later to make it 2-0.
MacKay’s shot from the slot beat Cavallin high to the glove-hand side just 4:37 into the middle stanza, before Toms, who, like MacKay, is a Sault native, deposited the rebound of a Jack Thompson shot at 15:17 for what proved to be the winner.
“It was nice to contribute, especially in a victory,” Toms said.
On the power play, Tye Kartye, with his team-leading 44th goal, wrapped up the scoring. The PP marker was his league-leading 23rd.
Along with MacKay, McConnell-Barker and Kartye all finished with a goal and an assist. Both Ryan O’Rourke and Rob Calisti contributed a pair of assists.
Coulson Pitre, Zach Giroux and Tag Bertuzzi, on the power play, were the only Flint shooters to beat Tynan.
“Tucker was great, especially on the penalty-kill,” said Dean, whose club limited its opponent to just 1-for-8 on the power play. “He was fantastic for us. And our kill was great.”
Asked if he’d sit out some of his veterans in order to give them a break before the start of playoffs, Dean said yes.
“I’ll probably give someone a rest,” he added, noting how Tyler Savard (upper-body injury) is with the team and should be ready to play on Saturday.
Winger Marco Mignosa (upper body) returned to action on Friday after being sidelined for just over a month.
