RECAP; Hounds secure weekend opener
by Peter Ruicci (Independent Media) | Photo by Bob Davies
It was sudden, intense and, in the end, decisive.
The Soo Greyhounds erupted for three goals in a span of 2:47 late in the second period on Friday, en route to a 5-3 victory over the Kitchener Rangers before 3,127 at GFL Memorial Gardens.
With the clubs tied 1-1, Hounds defenceman Rob Calisti, off a slick feed from Cole MacKay, notched a power-play goal at 16:28.
With that scoring play in the books, the home team led the rest of the way.
“For sure, that broke the game open,” said Calisti, who scored twice, while turning in an outstanding performance at both ends of the ice, helping his club control much of the contest. “Any time the boys get going, we stick to our structure and get pucks to the net, we have the ability to break out.”
“Yeah, we’re a team capable of doing that,” head coach John Dean said of the three quick goals, which helped his club move back into second place in the OHL’s West Division. “We had been playing pretty well up to that point and hadn’t been rewarded. But we blow up for those three goals. . . and it was pretty clear that was the turning point in the game for us.”
Centre Rory Kerins, who finished with a pair of assists, spoke of how the Rangers gave his team the opportunities it needed, on a night when the Hounds held a 43-27 edge in shots.
“You give us those chances and we’re going to capitalize,” added Kerins, whose club improved to 30-17-6-1, moving one point ahead of third-place Windsor (30-15-3-3), 6-4 losers in Erie on Friday.
However, the Spits have three games in hand.
“We’ve been like that all year,” Kerins continued. “They gave us chances, we took them and ran with it.”
The sequence began with Kitchener forward Navrin Mutter taking an ill-advised cross-checking minor at the 14:56 mark.
“It starts with the undisciplined penalty for me,” said Rangers head coach/general manager Mike McKenzie, whose club surrendered Calisti’s goal 92 seconds later. “That made it 2-1 and after that we fell off for five minutes.”
Less than a minute-and-a-half later, Bryce McConnell-Barker skated in on his off wing and ripped a missile that beat netminder Jackson Parsons high to the glove-hand side.
Owen Allard’s hard work led to another Hounds goal at 19:15. Allard and Kalvyn Watson worked a give-and-go with the Ottawa native beating Parsons in tight for a 4-1 Soo lead.
Jack Thompson made it 5-1 early in the third. Kitchener scored twice in the final nine minutes, but could get no closer.
Meantime, first-place Flint (34-16-1-3) kept pace with the Hounds by winning 6-2 in London as the Knights (32-17-2-0) continue to play without star netminder Brett Brochu, who suffered a lower-body injury on Tuesday in a game against Kitchener.
The Firebirds are five points up on the Greyhounds and six ahead of the Spitfires. Windsor has played three fewer games than Flint.
Although they skated off leading just 1-0 after 20 minutes, the Soo dominated the opening period, outshooting their opponents 20-7. Were it not for the strong netminding of Parsons, the Rangers might have been out of it early.
“Jackson was good,” said McKenzie, whose club fell to 22-25-2-2 heading into Saturday’s second game of the back-to-back weekend series. “He definitely kept us in it in the first period.”
“We had a really-good start,” said Allard, who continues to grow into a key role on this team. “We kept things simple, we were really hard on the forecheck and we played a hard-nosed game.”
However, Dean talked about how he was “very disappointed” with the way in which the Hounds allowed the Rangers to move to within 5-3 in the third period.
Ryan O’Rourke was assessed a high-sticking minor at 18:30 of third. With Parsons on the bench for an extra attacker, the Hounds shone defensively, blocking a number of shots.
Tucker Tynan robbed Mitchell Martin on a one-timer from the slot with 1:01 left in regulation.
“That’s one of the best games Tucker has played as a Greyhound,” said Dean. “We hung him out to dry in the third but he kept battling.”
“It was a big point in the game when you’re up by a couple and you get a penalty,” Calisti said of the Rangers late push. “It’s the time of the year when guys have to do the little things to secure points. It shows our team-first mentality.”
Cole MacKay contributed a pair of assists for the winners and has three goals and four assists over his last four games.
Matthew Sop, Simon Motew and Francesco Pinelli had the Kitchener goals.
With 14 games left in the regular season, Kerins spoke of the need to bear down on Saturday to complete the sweep.
“It’s tough to win two straight over the same team when you’re playing back-to-back,” he added. “But we need the points.”
“It’s huge,” Calisti said of Saturday’s rematch. “Every game from now on is really big. Every point matters, and we have to go on a bit of a tear now.”
