Storm warning cancelled; Hounds control Guelph in victory
Story by soogreyhounds.com | Photo by James Egan Photography | Post-game audio provided by Brad Coccimiglio (Sootoday.com)
SAULT STE. MARIE, ON-
Friday’s game provided the first look for the Hounds at the improved Guelph Storm since the two teams met in early October.
And while the opposition entered the Essar Centre with a 6-2-1-1 record in their past ten games, it was the Hounds who controlled the play five-on-five Friday, much to the satisfaction of Head Coach Drew Bannister.
“I thought we played very well. I thought five-on-five we really controlled the play, we didn’t give them any opportunities. The opportunities they did have were a lot on the powerplay” began Bannister.
“Five-on-five I thought we used our speed and we gave them a lot of trouble, we put a lot of pressure on their D, stripped pucks and got to work and I thought we did well” he continued.
The visitors would open the scoring 8:37 into the first period, scoring on their first powerplay of four on the night.
Garrett McFadden released a point shot that appeared to have possibly went off a Hound in front before going past the left pad of BRANDON HALVERSON for the 1-0 lead.
Off-setting minor penalties called after the Storm goal would put the two teams into 4-on-4 play, and the Hounds buzzed during that two minute span with both JACK KOPACKA and COLTON WHITE stopped on point blank shots by Guelph netminder Bradley Van Schubert.
The Hounds would tie the game on their seventh shot of the period. After COLTON WHITE gained the zone, the defensive standout dished the puck to MORGAN FROST who skated off the wall and to the net where he launched a shot over the glove hand of Van Schubert for the 1-1 tie.
For Frost it was his 3rd goal of his rookie campaign.
The locals head the slight advantage on the shot department 10-7 through twenty minutes.
After holding Guelph to just two shots in the opening eleven minutes of the second period, the Hounds would take the lead for the first time on the night right after killing off a minor penalty.
As BORIS KATCHOUK exited the box and joined the rush, the winger outbattled the Storm defence on two separate occasions down low before setting up ZACH SENYSHYN for his 29th goal of the season and a 2-1 Greyhound lead after two periods.
KATCHOUK and GABE GUERTLER picked up assists on the play.
ZACH SENYSHYN was robbed just over two minutes into the third by a sliding Van Schubert and then just over seven minutes in BLAKE SPEERS was foiled on a shot handed breakaway he attempted to tuck past the pad of the Storm netminder.
Midway through the period the Hounds penalty kill would shine in killing off basically back-to-back minor penalties while going 3-for-4 on the night.
“I thought our penalty kill did a good job. You best penalty killer is usually your goalie and I thought Halvy (Brandon Halverson) made some keys saves for us on the PK and late in the third to keep us up by one but certainly our PK did a great job” commented the Hounds Head Coach.
Along with firing fourteen shots in the third period, the Hounds would trigger two late goals to extend their lead and cap off the scoring.
At 15:49 JACK KOPACKA got a stick on, and redirected, a point shot by MEDRIC MERCIER through for the 3-1 lead before TIM GETTINGER backhanded his 9th goal of the season home from the slot just forty-eight seconds later.
And while the Hounds were praised for their five-on-five play, over the final 51:23 of the game, they put a stranglehold on the Storm while eventually limiting them to the 2nd least shots the club has faced all season long.
“That was maybe one of the better games we played away from the puck. I thought we played real well, made some great plays. Especially off the rush, I thought we made them dump everything” said Bannister.
“Our forwards were coming back hard, tracking pucks. Either we were stripping pucks and going the other way or forcing the pucks behind us. We exited the zone really well today” he concluded.
The victory improved the Hounds record to 20-18-5-1 on the year, good for 46 points.
With Owen Sound (6th in conference) idle, the Hounds took advantage of the game in-hand they held on the Attack while moving within a point of them and combined with Saginaw’s Friday loss, moved six points ahead of the Spirit.
ATTENDANCE – 4,156
RED STAR THREE STARS OF THE GAME
1-Zach Senyshyn, SSM
2-Colton White, SSM
3-Boris Katchouk, SSM
To view the complete game summary CLICK HERE.
UP NEXT;
The weekend concludes for the Hounds this Sunday afternoon – January 24th – when the division-leading Windsor Spitfires come to town.
Game time is set for 2:07 p.m and is presented by the Rotary Club of Sault Ste. Marie.
This game marks the 4th meeting of the season between the Hounds and Spitfires this season. Each and every contest so far has been a one-goal decision decided in either a shootout or overtime. You won’t want to miss it!
Fans can hear all the action beginning with the Bay Mills Resort & Casino’s pre-game show on Rock 101 (101.3 FM, www.rock101.net) beginning at 6:37 p.m.
This game will also be simulcast on Oldies 93 (93.9 FM)
