For those involved, the start of the Ontario Hockey League season has been an experience for the Soo Greyhounds.
“It feels like we’re in game 30 right now with the way we started the season,” said Greyhounds coach John Dean. “When you start the year off 0-3, to be back to .500 by game 10, it’s a great little journey we’ve been on over the last seven games.”
Dean went on to call the Greyhounds latest victory “very significant.”
“That’s another gritty effort by our guys,” Dean added. “We bent, but didn’t break. A lot of grit, a lot of character from different guys up and down the lineup.”
Dean also called it “probably the first game where I felt like 20 guys for the most part are contributing.”
That latest win was a 5-4 shootout triumph over the Sarnia Sting Sunday afternoon at the GFL Memorial Gardens.
Veteran forward Justin Cloutier scored the shootout winner for the Greyhounds while Landon Miller stopped all three Sarnia shooters
Dean said he “really loved” the Greyhounds offensive zone play in the win.
“I really loved the way we got pucks to the net,” Dean said. “I really enjoyed our entries, our neutral zone forecheck, our half-ice game.”
Dean added that the defensive side of the game continues to be a struggle for the Greyhounds.
“A lot of times, we’re in good spots, but we’re losing that battle coming out of the corner or coming off the half wall,” Dean said. “I find myself on the bench feeling really good about our structure and all of a sudden you see Sarnia with a chance in the middle of the ice, which means we’re getting beat off that wall.”
Dean also looked to young errors as an issue at times in the game as well.
Sting coach Alan Letang was pleased with the game overall, which capped off a three-game northern road trip for Sarnia.
“We knew we were going to have to handle some pressure in the early moments,” Letang said. “When they get the first goal real quick, a young team like us, we could have folded. We battled back and got our feet going and into the game.”
Letang added that the game was one in which both teams learned a few things.
“You want to be in those one-goal games, those tie games,” Letang said. “It’s great experience for young guys…It’s great development for them and that’s the whole point of this early on. The more they play those intense games, give the Sault credit, they played super hard tonight, they were hard on pucks, they chased pucks, we handled the pressure, but we couldn’t manage it or kill it.”
The Greyhounds got on the board first in the opening minute of the contest as Carson Andrew in close deflected a Caeden Carlisle point shot past Sarnia goaltender Nick Surzycia 26 seconds into the contest.
Sarnia proceeded to tie the game at 5:45 as Carter Kostuch grabbed a turnover by Keegan Gillen behind the Sault net and stepped out before beating Landon Miller.
The Sting then took a 2-1 lead at 15:25 as Easton Wainwright scored from the right faceoff circle on a rebound after Miller stopped a shot by Lukas Fischer from the left point initially.
The Greyhounds made it a 2-2 game at 6:58 of the second period as Travis Hayes skated down the right wing and beat Surzycia from the right circle high stick side.
The locals then took a 3-2 lead as Charlie Hilton scored on an open net after finishing off a three-way passing play at 8:01.
Fischer tied the game for the Sting on a Sarnia two-man advantage as he beat Miller with a shot from the high slot at 15:50.
Sarnia retook the lead just under nine minutes into the third period as James Barr stepped in from the right point, skated into the faceoff circle and beat Miller stick side at 8:44.
The Greyhounds then tied the game with 4:17 to go as David Holub beat Surzycia with a point shot through traffic.
Hayes and Andrew had a goal and an assist each for the Greyhounds.
Miller made 32 saves for the Greyhounds through 65 minutes of play.
“He battled for us,” Dean said, adding that he was “very happy” with Miller’s play in the win.
“That’s a very important game for us,” Dean added. “It’s a division game. It’s a team we’re hoping to battle with. It gets us back to .500. It’s on home ice.”
Fischer finished the day with a goal and an assist for the Sting while Surzycia stopped 26 shots.
With the win, the Greyhounds improve to 5-5-0-0 on the season.
Sarnia falls to 5-2-1-3 with the loss.
The Greyhounds return to action Wednesday night at home with a game against the Saginaw Spirit before facing the Ottawa 67s on Friday night, also at home.
Brodie McConnell-Barker and Marco Mignosa remained out of the lineup Sunday for the Greyhounds, but both skated on their own prior to the game.
Dean said Mignosa remains possible for a return Wednesday night.