Winning Weekend for Trio of Hounds
This past weekend was a successful one for a trio of players with ties to the Soo Greyhounds.
On Sunday, goaltender MATT MURRAY and defenseman DARNELL NURSE were part of Team Canada’s U18 bronze medal victory, meanwhile 2011 draftee FRASER TURNER and his Soo Thunderbirds teammates became Central Canadian Champions at the 2012 Dudley Hewitt Cup on Saturday.
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Courtesy of Hockey Canada / www.hockeycanada.ca
BRNO, Czech Republic – Hunter Shinkaruk scored his third goal of the game at 2:05 of overtime Sunday as Canada defeated Finland 5-4 to claim its first medal at the tournament since winning gold in 2008.
Canadian teams have had a hard time getting up for bronze-medal games in the past, but coach Jesse Wallin said his squad responded well in a tough situation
“We showed a lot of character today responding the right way. This isn’t a tournament that we’ve historically medalled in very often,” Wallin said. “We fell a little bit short of our goal, but at the same time given the situation, we’re certainly happy coming home with something as opposed to nothing.”
Sam Reinhart and Brendan Gaunce had the other goals for Canada, which lost to the U.S. in Friday’s semifinal. Mathew Dumba had three assists for Canada, while Scott Laughton added a pair of his own.
The Americans downed Sweden 7-0 in the gold-medal game later Sunday.
Matt Murray made 29 saves to pick up the win for Canada against the Finns.
Wallin says the Canadian coaching staff tried to lighten the mood after the team fell 2-1 to the U.S. in Friday’s semifinal.
“We really tried to push on the players the importance of the game. We played four games in five nights so we took (Saturday) off and stayed off the ice and kept it light,” he said. “We didn’t want it to be a mood where everyone was dragging their tail and feeling sorry for themselves. We tried to keep it upbeat and stayed away from the rink to have a mental break.”
But Wallin says he asked his players to finish the tournament strong even though the gold medal was out of reach.
“We challenged them to step up and realize the importance of this game for the team and the program moving forward and each one of them as individuals,” he said.
Henrik Haapala scored twice and added two assists for Finland, while Artturi Lehkonen scored and had two assists.
Rasmus Ristolainen had the other goal for the Finns, who got 33 saves from Joonas Korpisalo.
Shinkaruk and Reinhart scored in the first period as Canada led 1-0 after one.
Haapala and Shinkaruk traded goals in the second before Gaunce made it 4-1 at 10:34 with a short-handed goal after Canada’s Josh Morrissey was handed a five-minute major and game misconduct for kneeing.
Lehkonen scored on that power play to make it 4-2 at 11:23 and Haapala added his second on another man advantage at 19:15 to cut the Canadian lead to one heading to the third.
“The Finns played really well, came at us and we didn’t get any help from the officiating through that stretch,” Wallin said. “I thought there were some tough calls against us.”
Ristolainen tied the score at 9:30 of the final period before Shinkaruk scored the winner.
“They got the early goal in the third period but we were able to stick to the details and push our way through it,” said Wallin, who added that he challenged Shinkaruk to be better in the bronze-medal game.
“I thought his game (Friday) in the semifinal was just OK and we needed him to be a difference for us. That’s why he was here,”
Wallin said. “He’s a game-breaking type of player and today he answered the bell and stepped up.”
Courtesy of SIJHL / www.thedudleyhewittcup.com
THUNDER BAY, Ont. – The diminutive John Kleinhans came up big when his club needed him most.
Only five-foot-eight in stature the 21-year-old netminder played like a giant Saturday evening, turning in a stellar 44-save performance to backstop the Soo Thunderbirds to a 5-3 victory over the Stouffville Spirit in the championship game of the Dudley-Hewitt Cup Central Canada Junior A Hockey tournament staged at the Fort William Gardens in Thunder Bay.
With the win the Thunderbirds will now move on to represent the Central region at the Royal Bank Cup, May 5-13, in Humboldt, Sask.
It was Stouffville who got off to a quick start as defenceman Paul Geiger snapped a shot from the high slot through Kleinhans notching a power play marker at 1:51.
The Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League champion Thunderbirds knotted the affair midway through the opening session taking advantage of a turnover that resulted in Nick Romano sliding the puck through the legs of Jonathon Hall in the Spirit net.
Drake Caggiula’s second goal of the tourney put the Ontario Junior Hockey League title holders back on top at 15:44, but the Soo answered right back just 10 seconds later as Greg Sartoretto stuffed in a rebound from in close.
The Thunderbirds’ Jake Wright gave the T-Birds their first lead in the second as he swiped the puck from a Stouffville defenceman at the blueline and raced in chipping one over the blocker of Hall at 5:28.
It was the Kleinhans show the rest of the way as time and time again he thwarted Spirit shooters from every angle.
Romano finished off the work of Brett Campbell with the eventual game-winner at 17:32 as he knocked in a loose puck inches from the goal line.
The Spirit pulled netminder in favour of an extra attacker in the late stages and were rewarded with an Alex Botten effort with just over a minute to go.
They then pressed for the equalizer swarming the Soo net, but blocked shots and Kleinhans kept them at bay.
Micky Sartoretto would then ice it scoring into the empty net in the final seconds to send the Soo to the RBC.
DHC NOTES: The Dudley-Hewitt Cup triumph marked the first time since 2002 that the NOJHL has won the award. The Rayside-Balfour Sabrecats took home the DHC that year. … Shots on goal favoured Stouffville 47-16. … RBK player of the game laurels went to Kleinhans of the Thunderbirds and Geiger of the Spirit. … Prior to the presentation of the Dudley-Hewitt Cup, the tournament awards for the top goaltender, defenceman and forward at the event were announced. Garnering the accolades was Tanner Milliron of the Wisconsin Wilderness picking up top goalkeeper honours, Stouffville’s Geiger taking home the best defenceman award and T-Birds Matt Amadio earning top forward laurels. … Kirk Lamb, chairman of the Canadian Junior Hockey League, was in attendance to take it in the semifinal and finale.
