The Soo Greyhounds began a tough western division road swing with a hard fought win over the Sarnia Sting on Friday night.
The win comes as defenseman Chris Hawley, who was acquired by the Greyhounds from Mississauga just hours before the game, and Jason Pitton both scored their first Ontario Hockey League goals to lead the Hounds to a 3-2 win.
Just 19 seconds after the Greyhounds were forced to kill a five minute major penalty assessed to Jeff Doyle for elbowing, Pitton scored on a feed from Jeff Carter with 1:27 left in regulation time to break a 2-2 tie.
Hawley and Matt Maccarone scored for the Greyhounds, who trailed 1-0 after one period, in the second. Marco Caprara in the first period and Travis Chapman in the second scored power play goals for the Sting.
With the victory, the Greyhounds, who fired 34 shots on net, improve to 2-4-1 while the Sting falls to 3-2-0-1 with the loss.
Jakub Cech made his first start in net for the Greyhounds this season and was spectacular stopping 32 of the 34 shots he faced including several key stops in the third period to give the Greyhounds a chance to win. Cech was named the game's first star.
The game also featured three fights as Maccarone squared off with Sarnia's Reg Thomas early in the first period, the Greyhounds Jordan Smith tangled with Caprara in the second before the Hounds' Colt King battled Jon Hecimovic to begin the third period.
Hawley, an 18 year-old, was acquired by the Hounds from Mississauga for rookie defenseman Richard Caughell on Friday. Hawley recorded five assists in each of the his first seasons. A third year OHL veteran standing at six-foot-three and 210 pounds, Hawley played in only one of Mississauga's games this season.
The Greyhounds continue their road swing on Saturday night in Plymouth against the Whalers at 7:30 p.m. before meeting the Windsor Spitfires on Monday at 2 p.m. The Greyhounds return home on Wednesday in a 7 p.m. sart against the Sudbury Wolves at Memorial Gardens.
In other OHL action on Friday night, Sault native Patrick Jarrett scored twice to lead the Owen Sound Attack past the London Knights 4-2. Former Greyhound Jeff Weber made 39 saves to help Plymouth to a 1-1 tie with the Guelph Storm, who got a goal from Brett Trudell.
Ex-Hound Sean Stefanski scored the game winner as Sudbury edged the Barrie Colts 2-1. Brad Efthimou scored the overtime winner as Mississauga beat Brampton 4-3.
Jeremy Akeson scored twice to lead Ottawa past Saginaw 4-1 while Mike Knight scored the winner as Belleville beat Oshawa 4-3. Eric Himelfarb scored a goal and an assist as Kingston beat Peterborough 3-2.
Josh Disher recorded the shutout as Erie beat Toronto St. Michael's 3-0. Tyson Kellerman, acquired earlier this week from Saginaw, made 24 saves to lead Kitchener past Windsor 5-1.