They feel like they’re taking steps.
The first two weekends of the Ontario Hockey League regular season have been a struggle for the Soo Greyhounds, but looking back on their past two games, they feel like they’re taking some steps forward.
The latest result was a 2-1 loss to the Sarnia Sting at Sarnia’s Progressive Auto Sales Arena on Sunday afternoon.
For Greyhounds coach John Dean, there were some positives from the loss.
For Dean, the Greyhounds putting themselves in a position to tie the game late was important.
“The good news is, we dug deep, and we found a way to tie up the game,” Dean said while referencing the Greyhounds' injury situation, which saw goaltender Charlie Schenkel, defenceman Spencer Evans, and forward Brady Smith leave at various points through the opening two periods on Sunday.
“It’s tough for them not to find success, but they showed some great character tonight,” Dean added.
Smith left the game in the opening period after taking a hit in the neutral zone that Dean was not happy with.
“He’s susceptible,” Dean said. “We felt it was a blindside, which are things we thought we were trying to get rid of in the game.”
“We’re trying to promote the game, and we continue to have injuries from major hits that can be avoided,” Dean added. “It’s very disappointing.”
Dean said the severity of Smith’s injury wasn’t known following the game.
Schenkel’s day ended in the second period as the overage netminder came out of the game during a media timeout, went to the dressing room and did not return to the bench. Landon Miller proceeded to enter the game between the pipes for the visitors.
Dean said Schenkel left the game with an upper body injury and “he didn’t feel comfortable going back in.”
“Charlie’s the kind of guy that he would be in there if he could be,” Dean added, also saying that the severity of the injury wasn’t known.
Dean said Evans took a puck to the face and his injury would require dental work while rookie blueliner Hunter Solomon was injured late in the game on a hit by Sarnia’s Ruslan Kamirov.
The severity of the injuries suffered by Schenkel, Evans, and Solomon also weren’t known following the game.
Asked what he thought his players would learn most from Sunday’s game Dean said “it’s more about what you learn about each other.”
“You learn that you can lean on the guy beside you,” Dean added. “You learn that there’s a high care factor on this team.”
Veteran forward Justin Cloutier said he “100 per cent” feels that the team has taken steps during the last two games of the regular season’s first road trip.
“We had a rocky start, but after that win (Friday in Guelph) and tonight, it shows that we have faith in the coaching staff and what they’re preaching,” Cloutier added. “Today was one of our better structural games and I think the guys are getting the hang of it.”
The Greyhounds got on the board first as Travis Hayes skated down the right wing into the Sarnia zone and took a shot from the top of the right faceoff circle that Sting goaltender Evan Maillet got a piece of, but not enough to keep it from crossing the goalline.
The lone goal of the opening frame came just under eight minutes into the contest.
Sarnia got the game back on even terms 2:43 into the second period as Sting forward Carter Kostuch maintained possession of the puck below the goalline before feeding Tyson Doucette with a pass in the slot. The Sault product proceeded to beat Schenkel with a shot stick side to make it a 1-1 game.
With the game tied at one, Sarnia took the lead 72 seconds into the final period as a point shot by Nathan Omeri went wide of the Sault goal, redirected off the end boards and ultimately deflected off the skate of Miller and into the Sault goal for the eventual game-winner.
The game wasn’t without some added drama in the late stages though.
After Sarnia’s Ruslan Karimov took a major penalty for checking to the head with 3:31 to go in regulation time, the Greyhounds appeared to tie the game after Justin Cloutier went to the net and redirected a pass from Hayes on the left wing past Maillet with 33 seconds to go. The goal was reviewed and ultimately called back due to an offside roughly 10 seconds earlier as the play entered the Sarnia zone and the Greyhounds couldn’t rebound to tie the game again.
Miller made seven saves on eight shots in relief of Schenkel in the loss. Schenkel stopped 14 of 15 shots in just over 28 minutes before leaving the game.
With Schenkel out of the game, Reid Thomas served as Miller’s backup the remainder of the game.
At the other end, Maillet made 19 saves for the Sting to pick up his first OHL victory.
With the loss, the Greyhounds fall to 1-4-0-0 as they return home for a single game on home ice next week when they host the Kitchener Rangers on Friday night.
Sarnia improves to 2-1-1-1 with Sunday’s victory.