Slow start costly in Greyhounds opener
Story by Peter Ruicci (Independent Media) | Photo courtesy of Bob Davies
FULL PHOTO GALLERY | VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS
Deep holes are difficult to dig out of.
Head coach John Dean is hoping his young Soo Greyhounds learned that lesson in Friday’s OHL regular season opener.
The Saginaw Spirit grabbed a 4-0 first period lead and – led by Michael Misa’s three-goal, one-assist performance – stopped the Hounds 6-4 before 4,494 at GFL Memorial Gardens.
“Obviously, the first period was a wash. You have to throw it out,” said Greyhounds head coach John Dean, whose team surrendered a short-handed tally and a pair of power-play goals in the opening frame. “But I’m super happy with this group. To spot a team 4-0 following some youthful mistakes and then respond the way we did in the second period, I’m happy with the effort. I thought we were absolutely dominant in the second.”
The Greyhounds did indeed shine in the middle stanza, scoring twice to trim the Saginaw lead to 4-2 entering the final frame.
“We had a little bit of nerves in the first period,” said newly-minted captain Caeden Carlisle. “We were sloppy, we made some turnovers and our PK has to be better.”
“We have a lot of young guys on our team,” added centre Brady Martin, a standout for the home side while finishing with a goal and two assists. “There’s definitely things to work on. But we kept plugging away and I’ll take more positives than negatives out of this game.”
The visitors scored three times in a span of 1:59 to open their early lead.
“We need to learn to respond after giving up those three quick goals,” Carlisle said. “But a lot of good things happened after it was 4-0. Our O-zone was better, our exits were better and we were good on the forecheck.”
So, are there such things as moral victories? The coach answered in the affirmative.
“This is going to be a process. But we don’t want to continuously lean on the youth crutch,” said Dean, who saw three of his first-year players notch their first OHL goals. “That would be a mistake. We want to challenge these guys to progress as fast as we can.”
Misa took advantage of a turnover by Hounds rookie defenceman Keegan Gillen and fed Kristian Epperson for an early short-handed chance.
Epperson went high stick side on Landon Miller and the Spirit led 1-0 at 5:24.
“Just a young guy (Gillen) making a mistake,” an unprompted Dean said of the miscue. “No need to show him that video.”
Misa, who displayed the hands of a surgeon and the feet of a dancer, banged home the rebound of an Epperson redirection to make it 2-0 on the power play. The goal came at 7:02.
Just 21 seconds later, Misa’s redirection of a Josh Glavin shot gave Saginaw a three-goal cushion.
They made it 4-0 late in the period on another power-play opportunity. Epperson found Misa at the right face-off dot and the Oakville native notched his fifth goal in two games this season.
But the Greyhounds rebounded nicely in the middle stanza, outplaying the visitors and scoring twice to cut their deficit in half.
“We challenged them,” said Dean when asked what was said during intermission.
The coach spoke of how he reminded his charges of how “it’s easy to be a good player when you’re up 4-0. (Trailing 4-0) gives us an opportunity to show what kind of team we’ll be.”
Travis Hayes forced a turnover, fed rookie David Holub inside the right point and Holub’s blast beat Andrew Oke high on the blocker side at 10:00.
Just 24-seconds after that, Carlisle’s point shot hit first-year man Brady Smith in the helmet and wound up behind Oke.
That made it a 4-2 contest.
Charlie Schenkel, who replaced Miller after the opening frame, made a huge save late in the second period, robbing Epperson who cut in on goal alone.
In the final frame, Carson Harmer took his own rebound off the glass behind the Hounds net and slapped the puck past Schenkel on the glove side.
That made it 5-2 at 2:01.
Five minutes later, Hayes stole the puck behind the Saginaw goal and fed Martin in front. Oke stopped the Hounds centre, but rookie Carson Andrew banged home the rebound.
Saginaw added an empty-netter, courtesy Will Bishop, with 2:45 left in regulation.
Martin capped the scoring, making it 6-4 with a low drive. The power-play marker came at the 18:48 mark.
Dean agreed Miller had an off night, saying: “I don’t think that’s a good game for him.”
The coach also praised Schenkel, using the word “fantastic” to describe his relief effort.
“He gave us a chance to win,” added Dean, whose club held a 31-29 edge in shots and entertains Sudbury on Saturday (7:07 p.m.).
Martin, Hayes and defenceman Andrew Gibson, who logged a lot of minutes, were arguably the Soo’s best players.
Dean said he believed Martin was the best player on the ice?
Better than Misa?
“No doubt,” the coach added.
Carson and Smith both had a goal and an assist for the Greyhounds while Hayes added a pair of helpers.
Epperson had a goal and two assists for Saginaw while Sault native Calem Mangone was a standout for the winners with three assists.
“We made it a hockey game right to the end,” Carlisle said in a quiet Hounds dressing room. “I was really happy with our response in the second period.”
Notes:
Earlier in the day, Carlisle was named team captain while Martin, Gibson, Justin Cloutier and Marco Mignosa were named alternate captains.
Mignosa (illness) and Brodie McConnell-Barker (lower-body injury) missed Friday’s opener.
