Senyshyn scores four in Hounds 20th win of the season

Story by soogreyhounds.com  |  Photos courtesy of James Egan Photography

SAULT STE. MARIE, ON –
Exactly one year after recording his first-career four goal game (Dec. 2/15 vs SBY), ZACH SENYSHYN did it again.  The Ottawa, ON product accounted for all the Greyhounds offense on Friday Night and was the overtime hero against the Barrie Colts.

It was game in which the Greyhounds found a way to win after surrendering a two-goal lead to their short-staffed opponent.

“Ya it’s frustrating because Wednesday we didn’t play well right from the start.  But I thought we came with a purpose from the start (tonight), we outshot them bad, created a lot of offensive chances, guys were playing the right way” began Hounds Head Coach Drew Bannister post-game.

“We got away from what made us successful in the first period.  We got away from that in the second and third” he added.

The Hounds came out of the gates flying and used their speed and possession to build up an early shot advantage over the first five minutes of the game.

At 8:35 of the period, ZACH SENYSHYN would open the scoring by stripping Barrie’s Justin Murray and fired to the short side of David Ovsjannikov for the 1-0 lead.
It was Senyshyn’s 10th goal of the season.

With 2:38 to play, Hounds MATTHEW VILLALTA would turn aside the backhand attempt by Sooite Anthony Stefano who pounced on a rebound, allowing the Hounds to shortly thereafter build up a two goal cushion.

After knocking down the puck, SENYSHYN would take his familiar route up the right wing and cut to the net before tucking the puck low past Ovsjannikov for a 2-0 lead after twenty minutes.

Hounds would outshoot Barrie by a 15-8 margin in the first.

Starting the second period with 1:03 on the powerplay would prove unsuccessful for the Hounds and the visitors would follow that up by building a 9-3 shot advantage in the period along with scoring a pair of goals to tie game just over four minutes apart.

Aidan Brown left a shot go off the left wing (4:12) that went off the arm or glove hand of Villalta and cross the line for his 2nd goal of the year, thus cutting the Hounds lead to 2-1.

Then with Barrie on the man advantage, turnovers in the Hounds zone kept them on their heels as Justin Murray would eventually fire a shot from the right point (8:34) that would tie the game at two.  Tyler Tucker and Anthony Stefano picked up the assists.

In the third, the Hounds would take their second lead of the game just shy of the midway point of the period (8:22).
ZACH SENYSHYN skated over the Colts blueline and let a quick wrist shot go that beat Ovsjannikov to the glove side, now putting the Hounds ahead 3-2.

But Barrie would not go away easily.
At 16:44 Anthony Stefano made a behind-the-back pass from the right of the Greyhound goal and Zachary Magwood would bury from the slot tying the contest and sending the game to overtime.

For the Hounds it was their 7th trip to the 3-on-3 extra session, having won three times, while for Barrie they would being going to overtime for the 6th time this season.

Nearly a minute-and-a-half (1:28) into overtime, CONOR TIMMINS sent the puck up the left wing boards where SENYSHYN would beat his man towards the net and fire a quick shot high over the glove hand of the Barrie netminder to notch the four goal night, and propel the Hounds to the win.

“When Seny gets hot he can score in bunches.  That’s one thing we know about Zach is when he gets one or two there’s a good chance he will get three or four.  He got four tonight and obviously it was a big part of us winning” said Bannister about the game’s Red Star First Star.

The victory not only improved the Hounds current winning streak to nine games, but made the locals the first team to hit twenty wins this season in the OHL.

“I thought we were really good in the first period and then we got away from what we did well in the first period and started to turn the puck over, poor decisions with the puck at both blue lines.  We got into some penalty trouble, our penalty kill as good as it’s been failed to get pucks 200 feet and it got us in trouble, the one ended in the back of our net” commented Bannister.

“Some mental mistakes on the first goal, second goal and even third goal that let them get back into the game.  If we were to play the way we did in the first period for sixty minutes, that game would have been a different score for sure” he concluded.

Now with a record of 20-7-1-0, good for 41 points, the Hounds head out on the road for a three-game roadtrip this coming week.

RELATED READING;
* Sensyhyn scores four, Greyhounds win in overtime (Sootoday.com)

ATTENDANCE – 3,408

RED STAR THREE STARS OF THE GAME
1- Zach Senyshyn, SSM
2- Tim Gettinger, SSM
3- Anthony Stefano, BAR

To view the OHL Boxscore CLICK HERE.

UP NEXT;
The Hounds head out onto the road for the final time before the Christmas break this coming week, and the three-game trip kicks off on Thursday, December 8th in St. Catharine’s, ON.

Game time against the Niagara IceDogs is set for 7:00 PM.

Fans can hear all the action beginning with the Pre-Game Show on Rock 101 (101.3 FM) starting at 6:30 PM or watch live on ShawTV starting at 7 PM.

Game 2 of the week is @ Erie on Saturday, December 10th (7 PM) before concluding in Hamilton on Sunday, December 11 (2 PM).