Regal Hounds prove royal on road
by Peter Ruicci (Independent Media) | Photo courtesy of Tom Martineau
Being a group of wide-eyed tourists seems to agree with the Soo Greyhounds.
Back-to-back, three-game road trips have paid dividends in the form of four victories.
For the second straight journey over as many weeks, the Soo made it two out of three, hanging on to stop the North Bay Battalion 4-3 on Sunday in front of 3,478 at Boart Longyear Memorial Gardens.
“I couldn’t be prouder of the results. What we’ve asked these kids to do over the last 11 days is a lot,” said head coach John Dean, whose club rode a pair of power-play goals to a 3-0 lead early in the third period. “There hasn’t been a lot of room for rest. To put them through this – especially with all of our young guys – we’ve banked some points early in the season.”
“It starts with taking care of your body. That’s our biggest focus this year,” said winger Travis Hayes, when asked about his team winning four out of six on the road this season. “We had lots of energy today.”
Hayes, who notched a key power-play goal early in the third period and finished with eight shots on goal, also agreed staying hydrated and getting proper rest has been key for his club.
Dean, whose team improved to 5-3-0-0 heading into 7:07 p.m. weekend home games against Kitchener on Friday and Windsor on Saturday, was asked about the significance of quickly getting two Eastern Conference trips out of the way.
“Knowing two of our biggest road trips are behind us is huge,” said the Soo coach, who spoke of being “beyond impressed by North Bay. With their speed and work ethic, they’re a really-good young team.”
Of his young players adjusting to the Greyhounds travel challenges, Dean noted how the “only way to learn is to go through it.”
The coach also talked about how impressed he was with the way his club played defence for the first 50 minutes or so.
In particular, he mentioned the way in which the visitors stayed on top of North Bay’s impressive speed, while limiting what the Battalion was able to achieve off the rush.
However, up 3-0, the Hounds play sagged a bit in the third.
Ihnat Pazii, from a tight angle, beat Noah Tegelaar on the short side to make it 3-1 at 9:03. Five minutes later, Shamar Moses fired a one-timer on the power play to draw the home side to within 3-2.
On a day when his team was outshot 38-33, Marco Mignosa’s second goal of the game, an empty-netter with 1:08 left in regulation, proved crucial.
That’s because Arseny Pronin, with the Battalion skating with six attackers, found himself all alone at the side of the Soo goal. He took a backdoor feed from Jonathan Kapageridis to make it 4-3 at the 19:19 mark.
But North Bay could get no closer.
“We could take so many positives out of that game,” said Dean. “That includes finding a way to hold on and bend but not break.”
“That was huge to get that win, especially at the end of the trip,” said Mignosa. “That’s a tough team to play in their building, 100 per cent.”
“Last game of the road trip, we came out with an extra edge and stuck with it,” Hayes added.
Mignosa opened the scoring with a 5-on-3, power-play marker at 15:10 of the opening period. Through traffic, the veteran winger snapped a shot from the slot that beat Mike McIvor on the glove side.
After also adding an assist for a three-point day, Mignosa admitted to feeling some frustration following his performance in a 5-0 loss in Brampton on Friday.
Sunday’s showing “is a huge confidence booster for me,” he said. “Those power-play goals for us were massive. Especially the one to start the third (by Hayes). We knew we had to get that one.”
Hayes banged home the rebound of a Chase Reid shot to make it 3-0 just 1:01 into the final frame.
Prior to going 2-for-7 with the man advantage on Sunday, the Hounds were just 4-for-26 on the power play.
Dean called his special teams units “dynamite.”
Jordan Charron, with his league-leading eighth goal of the season, had the other Soo tally.
Asked about Tegelaar, who posted his second career victory, Dean said he thought his goalie was “great. But we hung him out to dry the last 10 minutes.”
Reid finished with a pair of assists, part of a strong performance.
On a day when they beat a steady stream to the penalty box, the Battalion fell to 3-3-0-0.
