‘Relentless’ Hounds hit the road again
by Peter Ruicci (Independent Media) | Photo by Bob Davies
When are the Soo Greyhounds at their very best and what has been characteristic of their recent hot streak?
John Dean took little time to formulate answers to both questions on Wednesday.
The veteran head coach spoke of the importance of the Soo’s ability to forecheck and stay above the puck.
But there’s more.
“When we’re relentless away from the puck and we smother teams from the red-line in, I think it leads us to be a team that is also relentless with the puck,” said Dean, whose club has won four of its last five heading into the final road trip before the annual Christmas break. “I think those two things go hand-in-hand.”
Dean, whose team has knocked off OHL powers Owen Sound, twice, Saginaw and North Bay this month, also spoke of how he thinks “our half-ice game has been very, very good” especially of late.
“We’ve started to come together and to really start getting dialed in,” said rookie winger Connor Clattenburg, whose club is slated to visit Kitchener on Friday (7:30 p.m.) and Guelph on Saturday (2 p.m.) before breaking for Christmas. “We’ve been working really hard and all the lines are going now. We all really want it bad and it’s starting to show.
Asked if their recent stretch has created higher expectations in the Hounds dressing room, Clattenburg, an Arnprior, Ont., native, said yes.
“We definitely showed well against some of the top teams in the league,” added Clattenburg, a six-foot-one, 192-pounder, who’s added grit and determination to the Soo lineup. “That shows we’re a hard-working group with no quit. We’ll play to the final whistle.”
The Hounds take a 10-11-4-4 mark, good for seventh place in the Western Conference, into weekend action. The Rangers are 13-13-0-0 while Guelph is slated to carry an 11-16-2-1 mark into a Friday home game against Barrie.
The Rangers have won four straight while the Storm is 6-4-0-0 over its last 10 starts.
“These are two big games. I don’t think there’s any question about it,” said Dean, whose team is set to begin the second segment of the season on Dec. 28 (7 p.m.) in Flint. “We understand it’s too early in the season for these two games to be the end of the world. But we also understand all three teams are playing really-good hockey right now and fighting for very similar spots.”
The Greyhounds are hoping winger Tyler Savard carries his hot play into weekend action. The Peterborough, Ont., native has five goals and 10 assists over his last 10 games and seven goals and 15 helpers over his last 15.
Asked about the second-year player’s contributions, Dean spoke of how Savard, a tidy combination of skill and physicality, has been “unbelievable. But he’s been a force for us all season long, quite frankly. I think he’s the best puck-protection player in the league.”
Dean also said Savard, based on his club’s internal analytics work, is “No. 1 in the league when it comes to drawing penalties.”
Questioned about the degree to which centre Mark Duarte has helped bring out the best in Savard, Dean noted how “Duarte brings out the best in a lot of people. In fact, that line (which includes winger Justin Cloutier) is so relentless on pucks, they really put themselves in great spots in the offensive zone.”
