Dean served as Head Coach of the Greyhounds since originally being hired by the club on July 12, 2018, and played an important role in the development of the team both on and off the ice during his tenure.

He served as the franchise’s longest-serving Head Coach (8 years, 7 seasons) while guiding the Hounds to an overall regular season record of 245-178-31-18 in 472 games.

“We would like to thank John for his time as our Head Coach and the impact he had on our players and organization,” said General Manager Kyle Raftis. “He carried himself as a true professional every day and made a lasting impression on so many of our players and staff through his passion and work ethic. As his coaching career continues, there is little doubt he will go on to do great things. We wish him nothing but the best moving forward.”

Tim Lukenda, President and Governor, added, “John is a high character individual that represented our organization well at all times. We appreciated John’s passion and dedication and wish him personal and professional success as he moves forward to his next opportunity.”

The organization will begin the process of identifying its next Head Coach immediately.

Further updates will be provided as they become available.

Featuring Greyhounds’ coaches and players, the school is an activity filled, full week of hockey development and instruction.

Combining both on and off-ice instruction, the Soo Greyhounds Hockey School is ideal for players of all calibres aged 7 to 10 years old. Age groups will be 7 & 8 years old and 9 &10 years old.

COST: • $475 for Skaters • $350 for Goalies ($250 non-refundable deposit will be charged once your child is accepted into school.  Balance due Thursday, July 30th, 2026)

TIME: 9:00 AM to 12:30 PM daily

WHAT TO BRING: All of your hockey equipment, comfortable clothing, a snack each day and a water bottle.

QUESTIONS? Please contact Tracey Herriman at 705-574-0080 or tracey@soogreyhounds.com

REGISTRATION FORM:

Online registration form will be live starting at 7 AM on Tuesday, April 28th and will close at 5 PM Wednesday, April 29th.

In order to provide equal opportunity to all applicants, participants will be selected at random from the pool of applicants using a lottery system *

There would be no third period comeback on this night.

And no Game 6.

Trailing by two goals entering the final frame for the second straight night, the Soo Greyhounds were unable to rally on Friday. They wound up dropping a 5-1 decision to the Kitchener Rangers in front of 6,927 at the Aud.

Despite the outstanding goaltending of Carter George, a sub-par performance overall brought an end to the Soo’s season. They dropped the best-of-seven, Western Conference semifinal to the Rangers, four games to one. Kitchener advances to face the Windsor Spitfires, who swept Flint 4-0 in the other semifinal, in the conference final.

On Thursday, the Hounds battled back from a 2-0 deficit after 40 minutes, putting together an impressive rally for a 4-2 victory at GFL Memorial Gardens. That denied the Rangers a sweep and forced Friday’s fifth contest.  

“But you can’t keep putting yourself in those spots. Tonight, unfortunately, it wasn’t our night to come back,” said head coach John Dean.

“Tough to come back all the time, obviously,” added Hounds overage Marco Mignosa, who led his club in both regular season (35-54-89) and playoff (7-10-17) scoring. “They managed the game well. They were tight in the D zone, blocking shots and getting pucks out. It was tough to generate chances.”

“We lost to a better team,” added Hounds captain Brady Martin, whose club was outshot 34-16. “They came in with a mindset that they wanted to beat us and not come back to the Sault. We got outplayed and we just couldn’t find our game.”

Dean touched on the fact it simply wasn’t the Greyhounds night.

“It definitely wasn’t our best game here in Game 5,” the coach added. “But I’m so proud of how hard our guys work and compete. Kitchener played a very good game, credit to them.”

The second period was particularly disappointing. The visitors were outshot 17-3, while surrendering the only two goals. That put the Soo in a 3-1 hole entering the final 20 minutes.

“Probably our worst period of the series,” Dean said. “Kitchener did a great job of forcing us into turnovers through neutral ice. And they had a heck of a second period.”

Tied 1-1 after 20 minutes, the Rangers scored twice in the middle frame, while controlling play.

With the Hounds caught up ice, the Kitchener clicked on a 2-on-1 at the 7:41 mark. Jared Woolley fired stick side and though he got a piece of it, George was unable to keep it out of the net.

Six minutes later, the home team used a 3-on-2 to notch a power-play tally. Alexander Bilecki made a slick feed to Dylan Edwards on the right wing. The overage notched his eighth goal of the playoffs, beating George high to the glove side. That made it 3-1.

Ten seconds later, Justin Cloutier was whistled for roughing, while both Travis Hayes and Callum Croskery were handed 10-minute misconducts for unsportsmanlike conduct.

“Obviously, I didn’t like the penalties,” Dean said when asked. “We have to keep our emotions under control.”

Meantime, the Rangers added two late, empty-net goals by Sam O’Reilly to cap the scoring.  O’Reilly also had a pair of assists, while Edwards contributed a goal and two assists.

Scoring his fifth goal of the playoffs and fourth in the last five games, Quinn McKenzie got the Hounds going just 54-seconds into the first period. After a Rangers turnover, a deflection in front of the goal wound up on the stick of Noah Laus.

He fed McKenzie alone in front and the Soo had a 1-0 lead.   

George made numerous big saves throughout to keep his team close.

Dean used the word “fantastic” to describe the play of the Thunder Bay native.

“Carter George is Carter George,” the coach added. “He gave us an opportunity to potentially have a comeback in the third.”

While appearing on the Rogers television broadcast, Kitchener bench boss Jussi Ahokas said the Rangers weren’t about to blow a lead for the second straight night.

“We played (tonight),” he said, when asked about the difference in third periods. “We did a solid, great job.”

Ahokas also spoke of how he has no doubt the Rangers were the better team in this series.

“We played badly 10 minutes, I would say, in the whole series. They had great goaltending, but we still managed to score.”

“This obviously sucks,” Mignosa said of going out in Round 2. “The whole team wanted to go a little farther than we did.”   

With injured centre Chris Brown (upper body) playing for the first time in the series on Friday, the Hounds were able to dress three 2006-born skaters, along with George in goal. On the flip side, the Rangers dressed eight players in their age-19 season, plus netminder Christian Kirsch.

Asked about the difference in OHL experience and what role it plays in the playoffs, Dean spoke of how “there are always youthful mistakes and so experience can be an advantage at times.”

However, the coach refused the suggestion it was a factor in this series.

“We had a good enough team to win, no matter what our average age is,” he said.

Dean was also asked about Cloutier, the overage winger, who was obviously playing at less than 100 per cent.

The veteran Hound lacked his usual feisty approach and had just one assist in nine playoff tilts.

“No, no, he wasn’t 100 per cent. But he went out of his way to battle for his team,” said Dean, who talked of how Cloutier’s problem was “illness related.”

The Ottawa native was seriously ill as he battled an E. coli infection through the first half of the season.

“I’m beyond impressed by him,” the coach continued.

Martin, who began the season with the NHL’s Nashville Predators, said he was so proud of the players he competed alongside.

“We had a great group on this team,” he said. “We had a blast.”

Notes: While Brown was able to play on Friday, veteran winger Jeremy Martin (upper body) missed his second straight game.

It wasn’t quite a Category 4 hurricane.

But what the Soo Greyhounds unleashed in the third period on Thursday would surely qualify as a dangerous tornado.

In an elimination game, the Hounds grabbed adversity – they trailed 2-0 through 40 minutes – and squeezed it into opportunity.

They scored four unanswered goals, including the first three in a span of 4:02, to defeat the Kitchener Rangers 4-2 in front of 4,613 at GFL Memorial Gardens.

“We were great the whole third period,” said captain Brady Martin, whose club trails the best-of-seven, Western Conference semifinal 3-1, heading into Game 5 on Friday (7 p.m.) at the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium. “I’m very proud of our team. We’ve battled adversity all year. To come back and win that game shows the character we have, the will we have, the brotherhood and how much we want to win.”

In order to mitigate fatigue, the Greyhounds and Rangers were both scheduled to fly out of the Sault on Thursday night.

In a 2-0 deficit and staring at what could be the final 20 minutes of 2025-2026, “we were really determined. We’ve had our backs against the wall pretty much the whole season,” said winger Travis Hayes, who notched the game winner. “We’ve been in that position so many times, down one or two goals. We have the resiliency to come back.”

Jordan Charron scored back-to-back goals to tie the game 2-2, setting the stage for the Hayes winner.

Charron explained how, during the second intermission, head coach John Dean told the players they’re “the best comeback team in the league for a reason. And we know we have the team to come back.”

After each of their third period goals, a torrent of cheers washed over the Greyhounds.

“It’s a special feeling hearing that,” Charron noted. “You just want to come back and win it for the fans.”

On a night when the Soo held a 33-22 edge in shots, the big difference in the third period, said Dean, was his club’s confidence.

He said the Hounds discussed that aspect of their game before coming out for the final frame.  

Dean also spoke of how he thought his players looked nervous over the first two periods.

“In the third period, the guys just left it out there. They played with some swagger,” he explained. “They were a little more free. To their credit, everyone jumped on board.”

Charron made it a 2-1 game at 5:56 of the third. Taking a feed from Callum Croskery, he fired through traffic from just inside the left point.

The shot beat Christian Kirsch high on the blocker side.

Just 2:17 later, Croskery made a beautiful play on a rush, eluding four Kitchener defenders before finding Charron on the left wing. The Ayr, Ont., native fired a one-timer, high to the glove-hand side to tie the game.

Hayes notched his first goal of the postseason at 9:58.

The veteran winger knocked his man off the puck behind the Rangers goal. Marco Mignosa retrieved it and fed Hayes, who had rolled to the left side of the goal.

He fired high glove side to make it 3-2.

“I felt a lot of relief helping my team out,” said the Westland, Mich., native.

Goalie Carter George was rock solid the rest of the way before Mignosa added an empty-net tally to cap the scoring.

Mignosa finished with a goal and an assist while Croskery added a pair of assists.

The Rangers opened the scoring early in the first when the Hounds were caught up ice.

On a 3-on-2, Haeden Ellis found Cameron Arquette all alone in front for a tap-in.

Midway through the second, a Greyhounds turnover in the defensive zone led to Kitchener’s second goal. Andrew Vermeulen made a slick feed to Matthew Hlacar all alone on the left side of the Hounds goal.

“We stopped playing. As simple as that,” Rangers head coach Jussi Ahokas said of his team’s third period problems. “We didn’t go after them for the first 10 minutes of the third. We got passive.”

With three goals in the playoffs, Charron spoke of how he feels “my game is coming back a lot. I have a lot more confidence now.”

Dean said George was “great. We gave up a lot of odd-man rushes and he did exactly what we needed.”

Asked about Game 5, Hayes spoke of how confident his club is.

“We have their number right now and they’re shivering,” he said of the Rangers. “They don’t travel at all and we travel a lot. I’m 100 per cent confident we’re going to win.”

“We kind of have Kitchener in a blender here,” added Charron. “I think we’re going to win Game 5 and bring it back here for Sunday.”

Game 6, if needed, is slated for Sunday (7:07 p.m.) in the Sault.

Should the series go the distance, a seventh game would be played Tuesday (7 p.m.) at the Aud.

“We’re ready to play,” Ahokas said of Friday’s contest. “We have a great opportunity at home.”

Notes: The Hounds played minus winger Jeremy Martin (upper body), who was injured due to a head check in Game 3.

He’s listed as day to day.

So is centre Chris Brown (upper body), although Dean hinted the veteran could return on Friday.  Defenceman Brodie McConnell-Barker (illness) remains week to week.

The winner of this series will face Windsor in the conference finals. The Spits beat Flint 5-3 on Thursday to sweep that series in four straight.

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Frequent security breaches, for the second game in a row, proved catastrophic for the Soo Greyhounds on Tuesday.

The Hounds gave the Kitchener Rangers access to the front of their net on three of their goals. The fourth came on a defensive-zone turnover. That was enough for the visitors to secure a 4-3 victory in front of 4,532 at GFL Memorial Gardens.

“We made really immature mistakes for goals against. That just can’t happen at this time of the year, obviously,” said Hounds head coach John Dean, whose club now finds itself in a 3-0 hole in the best-of-seven, Western Conference semifinal.

Game 4, a must-win clash for the Hounds, is slated for Thursday (7:07 p.m.) in the Sault.

“Principled, rule-based hockey is what we’ve talked about from September on,” the coach continued. “It should be on auto-pilot. We should be really organized on the way back to our zone. We simply can’t give up those kinds of chances.”

“Shooting ourselves in the foot these last two games, when we finally tie it up or take the lead, hasn’t been the best feeling,” said defenceman Chase Reid, whose power-play goal at 13:50 of the third period tied Tuesday’s game 3-3. “Mistakes were very costly. They have been the last two games.”

Miscues were also a determining factor in the Hounds 8-5 loss in Game 2 in Kitchener on Sunday.

“At the end of the day it comes down to execution and we weren’t executing,” said centre Quinn McKenzie, who tied the game 1-1 with his fourth post-season tally at 14:02 of the first period. “We made a lot of mistakes – it’s repetitive. It’s hard to win that way. We feel as if we’ve handed them the last two games.”

With the score tied 3-3 in the final frame, the Rangers took advantage of a Greyhounds turnover.

Defenceman Jakub Winkelhofer was stripped in the corner and Dylan Edwards centered it from behind the Soo goal. The puck hit Winkelhofer’s stick and eluded George, who had no chance on the play.

The third goal for Edwards made it 4-3 at 14:43, and the Hounds were unable to get the equalizer.

“I feel so bad for Winky,” said Dean, who spoke of how good the rearguard has played this season. “I feel awful over that last goal.”

The visitors opened the scoring 11:42 in, when the Greyhounds were caught flat-footed.  Haeden Ellis beat the Hounds down the ice and took a back-pass from Alexander Bilecki in front of the net. Ellis went high glove side on Carter George.

After McKenzie tied it, Jack Pridham took a stretch pass and, on a 1-on-1, pulled up along the right-wing boards. He found the trailer, Edwards, who had no one near him.

Edwards went low stick side to make it 2-1 at 17:50 of the middle frame.

But early in the third, Marco Mignosa fed Brady Martin down the left wing. From the left dot, Martin ripped the puck low to the glove side on  Christian Kirsch. That made it 2-2 at the 1:41 mark.

On the powerplay, at 5:39, Edwards beat Winkelhofer to the net and redirected a Pridham feed past George.

“It’s frustrating,” McKenzie said of the Hounds getting beaten to the front of their net. “We went over that in our pre-scout.”

Reid’s power-play tally to tie the game came after Martin won a face-off, and Lukas Fischer found the second-year man at the top of the left circle.

Reid snapped a shot past Kirsch on the glove side.

But it took just 57 seconds for the Rangers to reply, taking the lead for good.

“We answered them with rush goals. Edwards had a great game, he’s a warrior who plays a two-way game,” said Kitchener head coach Jussi Ahokas. “But this was a really-tight game. They came hard, they forechecked hard. But our guys dug in and played hard.”

“We battled, but Kitchener deserves credit,” said Dean, whose club was outshot 24-21. “They really finish their routes to the paint. But the way we’re leaving their zone, they’re skating right through us.”

Kitchener went 1-for-4 with the man advantage while the Soo was 1-for-5.

“The fourth game will be the toughest. We know we have to be prepared,” said Ahokas, whose club flew to the Sault, allowing the Rangers to avoid a bus ride back to Kitchener should the Hounds force a Game 5 on Friday (7 p.m.) at the Aud.

Staring at elimination, Dean said the Greyhounds have little choice but to focus on winning each shift.

“We need to get some swagger back,” he added.

“We still have Thursday,” said Reid. “I still think we’re very capable of coming back. This series isn’t over. We need to come out Thursday and dominate.”

McKenzie touched on the fact the Hounds must be totally focused on extending the series come Thursday.

He also spoke of how Windsor was up 3-0 on Kitchener in last year’s conference semis, only to see the Rangers win four straight to advance.

“Doing that, would be awesome,” he said.

Notes: Hounds winger Jeremy Martin was on the receiving end of a check to the head at 3:45 of the second period. Carson Campbell was assessed a minor penalty and Martin, who left the ice under his own power, didn’t return.

When asked about the severity of the injury, Dean said he hadn’t yet spoken to the club’s medical staff.

He also mentioned the possibility of the OHL reviewing the hit.

The Hounds again played minus centre Chris Brown (upper body) and defenceman Brodie McConnell-Barker (illness).

Without Brown and McConnell-Barker, the Hounds dressed just two, 2006-born skaters, along with George.

The Rangers dressed eight, along with Kirsch.

Meantime, the Hounds have yet to finalize travel plans for a possible fifth game. There has been speculation they might also fly to Kitchener.

Should the series go six games, that contest is slated for Sunday (7:07 p.m.) here.

A seventh game, if needed, is scheduled for Apr. 21 in Kitchener.

Hard to explain in the playoffs?

Certainly.

Hard to swallow in the playoffs?

Definitely.

The Soo Greyhounds blew a one-goal lead twice in the third period on Sunday, while surrendering four unanswered goals – including two empty-netters.

The result was an 8-5 loss to the Kitchener Rangers in front of 6,821 at the Aud, and a 2-0 deficit in the best-of-seven, Western Conference semifinal.

“Obviously, this is super frustrating. Stupid plays ended up in the back of our net,” said overage winger Marco Mignosa, who led the Soo with two goals and two assists. “We had two, one-goal leads in the third period. It was unbelievable to lose that game.”

“This was a pretty-disappointing loss,” added winger Jeremy Martin, who scored twice for the visitors. “We can’t be giving up too many chances. We have to protect the front of the net.”

After letting leads of 4-3 and 5-4 get away, Martin spoke of how he and his teammates weren’t on point as much as they needed to be.

“We have to be more detailed when it comes to closing games out,” he added.

When protecting leads in the final frame “you need to manage pucks, you need to get pucks out at your blue-line, get pucks behind their D and play at the top of the circles down,” said head coach John Dean, whose team is coming home to GFL Memorial Gardens for Game 3 on Tuesday and Game 4 on Thursday (both begin at 7:07 p.m.). “We didn’t do that tonight and that’s what cost us.”

Meantime, Rangers head coach Jussi Ahokas spoke of how proud he was of his team’s performance over the final 20 minutes.

“In the third period, our guys showed a lot of determination,” Ahokas said during the postgame show on the Rangers TV broadcast. “They showed what they’re made of.”

After the Soo rallied from a 3-1 deficit, the clubs entered the third period in a 3-3 tie.

But just 53-seconds in, Mignosa found Quinn McKenzie in front for a tap-in, power-play tally.

But at 3:20, the home side tied it 4-4 on the powerplay when Dylan Edwards beat Carter George high to the blocker side from the right dot.

However, the Greyhounds retook the lead at 5:13 following a Jared Woolley turnover. Martin snapped home his second of the night, putting it past Christian Kirsch high on the blocker side to give the Soo a 5-4 lead.

Three minutes after that, Cameron Reid backhanded the puck from behind the Soo net and Tanner Lam went high blocker from the right circle to tie the contest.

Just over five-minutes later, the Rangers moved the puck as if it was on a string. From along the left-wing boards, Sam O’Reilly fed Woolley, who was the trailer on a rush.  The defenceman sent the puck to Jack Pridham at the left side of the goal, and he went backdoor to Edwards, who was alone on the right side of the net. George had no chance and the home team led for good, 6-5.

O’Reilly, who finished with three goals on the night, added a pair of late, empty-netters. The first was a short-handed tally.

The Rangers were 2-for-2 with the man advantage, while the Hounds were 1-for-6.      

Asked about his powerplay, Dean agreed the Soo would have liked more production on Sunday.

“But at the same time, when you score five goals, if you play the right way, that shouldn’t have mattered,” he said.

While George made some big stops, the coach was asked if the Hounds could have stood an extra save or two.

“That’s a question for him, more than me,” Dean answered. “But he made some huge saves to give us an opportunity to tie the game.”

Edwards contributed a pair of goals for the winners, who outshot the Soo 38-31. Christian Humphreys, who also notched an assist, and Avry Anstis had the other goals. Pridham and Reid contributed three assists each while  Woolley had a pair.

“We’re disappointed in the loss, but there still remains a clear formula if 20 guys are on board to do it for 60 minutes,” Dean said.

His message for Game 3?

“Let’s play with some desperation, play the right way consistently and manage the puck consistently,” the coach answered.

“It’s brutal talking about this loss,” said Mignosa. “But at the same time, it’s not the end of the world. We have to win Game 3, but we’re going home and we’ll have a good crowd. We have to wipe this one and be ready to play.”

Notes: Overage Justin Cloutier, who missed Game 1 for precautionary reasons related to the E. coli infection he battled through in the fall, returned on Sunday.

Centre Chris Brown (day-to-day with an upper-body injury) missed his second straight game.

According to sources, the Rangers plan to fly to the Sault for Games 3-4. That would allow them to fly home following the fourth game if a fifth contest is needed. Game 5 would be played on Friday in Kitchener, 24 hours after Game 4.

The Hounds say their trip plans for a possible Game 5 have yet to be finalized.

In a playoff series where miscues are magnified, a couple of second period lapses were surely problematic for the Soo Greyhounds on Friday.

The Kitchener Rangers took advantage of the mistakes to score twice, before adding an empty-net tally in a 3-1 victory over the Hounds in front of 7,352 at the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium.

Able to hold off the charging Greyhounds in the third period, the Rangers grabbed a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven, Western Conference semifinal, heading into Game 2 on Sunday (7 p.m.) at the Aud.

“We felt the opportunities against were self-inflicted and very much inside our control,” said Hounds head coach John Dean. “Those were unnecessary mistakes. You want to make the opposition beat you, you don’t want to beat yourself.”  

“A couple of bad plays ended up in the back of our net. But the guys got the nerves out in the second period,” added winger Marco Mignosa, whose team had been outshot 22-13 through 40 minutes, before taking control of play in the final frame. “We got better as the game went on and had a really dominant third period.”

After a slow start in the opening frame –“It wasn’t Hounds hockey,” Mignosa explained – the Hounds fell into a 2-0 hole in just over eight minutes in the middle period.

After Mignosa drew iron with a shot early in the second, the Rangers got on the board at the 2:15 mark.

Carter George stopped a Gabriel Chiarot shot from the right-wing circle, but the rebound came out to the front of the net. Haeden Ellis got inside of defenceman Spencer Evans and banged it home.

Ellis notched his second of the night at 8:05. Following a Carson Andrew turnover in the neutral zone, Alexander Bilecki sent the puck to the net from the right circle. On the backhand, Ellis redirected it through the five-hole for a 2-0 advantage.

George kept his team alive with a big stop on Tanner Lam just 1:49 before the second intermission. In the first period the veteran netminder made a great pad save on Sam O’Reilly with 5:40 remaining.

“Carter was great. He bailed us out of a tough first 20,” said Dean.

The Hounds were a different team in the final frame, out-skating and outshooting the home side 15-4 for a 28-26 advantage overall.

Brady Martin rang one off the post early in the third.

At the 6:25 mark, Quinn McKenzie came streaking down the right wing, before firing from a bad angle and beating goaltender Christian Kirsch high on the short side. That trimmed the Soo’s deficit to 2-1.

But Kirsch was equal to the task the rest of the way. Sam O’Reilly capped the scoring with an empty-net tally with 1.3 seconds left in regulation.

“After that third period, we know we’re a great team when we play Hounds hockey and compete hard,” McKenzie said. “Our forecheck was great, we were beating them to pucks and we didn’t slow the game down at all.”

“We’re really proud of the resiliency of our group,” said Dean. “I really liked the way we progressed over the course of the 60 minutes.”

During a postgame interview on the Rangers TV broadcast, head coach Jussi Ahokas didn’t like the way his club finished up on Friday.

“Not our best third period,” he said. “But we got the job done. The last three minutes, we defended really well.”

Ahokas also appreciated the performance of the line of Ellis between wingers Lam and Chiarot.

“Great job by our third line,” he said. “They worked, they worked. Ellis, great goals, and Chiarot played unreal.”

Chiarot and Bilecki contributed two assists each.

As a team, the Hounds will review video on Saturday and make any necessary adjustments prior to Sunday’s clash.

Dean agreed his charges need to play a cleaner game.

“We have to get rid of the self-inflicted mistakes and puck-management issues,” he began. “We need to bear down on our chances. I thought we generated more than enough to score some goals tonight.”

“We need to tighten things up in the D-zone, win more battles and have a little more desperation on the defensive side,” added Mignosa. “If we come out flying and play the way we did in the third, we’ll be fine.”

Notes: Dean said centre Chris Brown (upper-body injury), the club’s second-leading scorer in the regular season, will miss his second straight game in this series on Sunday.

“But he’s getting close,” the coach added.

Winger Justin Cloutier is day-to-day after missing the game for precautionary reasons, related to the E. coli infection he battled through over the fall.

Dean said he couldn’t predict whether the overage would be available on Sunday.

Meantime, Windsor stopped Flint 4-2 on Friday in the first game of the conference's other semi.

Talk about boiling it down.

Soo Greyhounds defenceman Callum Croskery believes the series with the Kitchener Rangers comes down to two simple words.

“Our team is built around belief and brotherhood,” said Croskery, a first-year defenceman, whose club is set to begin its best-of-seven, Western Conference semifinal with the Rangers on Friday (7 p.m.) at the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium. “We’re very excited and very confident going into this series. And we’re appreciative of the insane opportunity we have to go and play such a good team. It’s going to be fun.”

Asked to amplify his thoughts on the two words he spoke of, the Oakville, Ont., native talked about how each Greyhound believes in the players around them and in the coaching staff.

“We trust each other that we’ll all sacrifice and do the right things. We believe we can do anything with this group,” Croskery added.

As for his reference to brotherhood, the six-foot-one, 180-pounder, said the importance of camaraderie can’t be overstated.

“Guys on this team are ready to go to war for each other and sacrifice for each other,” Croskery noted. “When you’re doing it for the guy beside you, it’s a lot more powerful than just doing it for yourself.”

And what the Greyhounds are going to have to do is find a way to beat a club that finished first (47-14-5-2) in the Western Conference. The Rangers swept eighth-place Saginaw in the conference quarter-finals, while the fifth-place Hounds (39-23-1-5) eliminated fourth-place London in five games.

“That’s a really-good hockey club. They’re well-structured, organized and consistent with their brand,” Hounds head coach John Dean said of the Rangers, who also play host to Game 2 on Sunday (7 p.m.), before the series shifts to GFL Memorial Gardens next Tuesday and Thursday (both at 7:07 p.m.). “They’re very-threatening off the rush and generally, they’re above the puck. I have a lot of respect for the way they play and I think it’ll be a great series.”

So what will it take to stop a Kitchener club which finished behind only Brantford (48-10-8-2) in the OHL’s overall standings?

While respecting his opponent, Dean, as he often has this season, spoke of how he’s more concerned with his club doing the things it must do.

“We want to play with a lot of pace and take away time and space,” the coach began. “We want to be a team that manages the puck well. That’s going to be extremely important because they’re very deep up front. We don’t want to give them a lot of transition opportunities.”

With multiple games now under their belts, centre Brady Martin and defenceman Chase Reid – both of whom missed big chunks of the regular season due to injuries – have made the Greyhounds a much-better team.

A club which dropped four out of five to close the regular season, skated with renewed clout against the Knights.

What has Dean seen from his players during a week of rest and preparation?

“I’ve seen excitement, commitment to detail, I’ve seen a group that is staying even-keeled,” he explained. “But also a group that is very excited to be participating in the second round.”

The Rangers have proven themselves a dangerous power-play club. They finished No. 4 in the OHL in the regular season (26.1 per cent) and are fifth so far in the playoffs, converting 4-of-11 opportunities (36.4).

Dean said he and his coaches stressed the importance of discipline in the London series, and will again against Kitchener.

“The best penalty-kill is not to take penalties at all,” he added. “But our guys did an exceptional job against London and I expect more of the same against Kitchener.”

The Hounds PK limited the Knights to 3-for-21 (86.7 per cent) with the man advantage.

“We’re up for the challenge of facing the Kitchener powerplay,” said veteran defenceman Spencer Evans. Assistant coach Brendan Taylor “has done a great job of preparing us. Now it’s up to us to execute.”

Evans spoke of how the willingness to “put our bodies on the line and block shots,” will be critical.

As for the Soo powerplay, an up-and-down unit during much of the regular season, the addition of Martin and Reid has things trending in the right direction, Dean said.  

While his club was a pedestrian 4-for-23 (17.6 per cent) in the first round, the coach said he believes those numbers are deceiving.

“We scored some critical goals and gained momentum from our powerplay in the London series,” Dean explained.

Asked about how he sees his club’s level of confidence entering Round 2, Dean answered quickly.

“We have a ton of belief in ourselves. We know it’s going to be a very-difficult series,” he answered. “But we also plan to put our best foot forward.”

When it comes to playoff matchups, Dean has never been one to label his team as either favorites or underdogs.

On Thursday, he repeated what he’s said numerous times during the regular season.

“Our expectation, always, is that we win every game we play in.”

Notes: Hounds centre Chris Brown, second on the club in regular season scoring, remains day-to-day with an upper-body injury.

Defenceman Brodie McConell-Barker (illness) remains week-to-week, the coach added.

It’s believed the Rangers have no serious injuries.